Poké Rangers: Genesis Overload
by Blue Bongo
Summary: The hunt is on. After the attack of the Coppingers, the new Genesis Rangers must hunt down the ten components of the Genesis Book. Can Katie, Duo, Xavier, Luke, Nahir, Ryan and Paige complete this task before their enemies do?
1. Nothing Important Happened Today

Chapter One. Nothing Important Happened Today.

* * *

"A more kind and friendly person I have never known," Danni said, stood at the makeshift podium at the deck of the Silver Gyarados. "When I first met her, she was welcoming. She was... Nice. I knew her through Duo, but that's not important."

"She's really not going to miss a chance to take a swipe at me," Duo muttered, into Xavier's ear. "Part of me wishes that..."

"Shush!" Crane exclaimed with a harsh whisper, looking back at them. "Show some respect."

For once, Duo didn't bother to come back with a reply. It wasn't about him and Danni, the stuff that had happened between them over six months ago. Although part of him was still annoyed about the way that she insisted on upholding the grudge against him. It was about Paige, their fallen friend who had perished in the escape from the Coppinger Aerial Platform.

"I know that I speak for everyone when I say that she'll be missed," Danni finished. "Our lives will never be the same again."

"Amen to that," Nahir said, as the yellow SDI ranger stepped down from the podium. "Jeez, why did it have to be her?"

"I guess we'll never know," Mitzi commented. "Too bad that we couldn't give her a proper sendoff."

"I don't know," Ryan remarked. "This is..."

"Got to agree with him," Scott said. "I mean... It's not about how we bury her. It's about how we remember her."

"Crane," Katie called, looking over at him. "You want to say a few words about her? About her memory? Eulogise her?"

"All the rest of us did," Duo pointed out. "Even though the story of when I first met her is viewed by some as inappropriate."

"It was a bit inappropriate for a funeral," Chip said. "I mean..."

"I don't think I've ever done anything inappropriate," Duo said. "What was wrong with this?"

* * *

_"So, I mean, I gotta tell you that..." Duo Roronoa said. "You're incredibly hot, and..."_

_Paige Martinez looked at him._

_"Yeah, I know." She replied. "So... kindly go away. I've got better things to do. Like wait for my Pikachu and Clefable to be healed."_

_"Oh come on." He urged. "I could give you the time of your..."_

_There was a cough, and the two of them looked up to see a tall man in his mid twenties, wearing a red vest and grey slacks stood above them. With him, was a woman about the same age, with red hair and blue eyes._

_"What's up?" Duo asked._

_Paige rolled her eyes, before going back to her magazine._

_Crane smiled._

_"Excuse me." He said, holding up the briefcase. "But can you just take a look at this?"_

* * *

"No, you're right," Danni said, scathingly. "There's nothing wrong with that at all."

"Are you really going to stay mad at me forever?" he shot back. "Because I don't think that..."

"Anyway!" Crane quickly interrupted. "I think I might say a few words."

As he began to stride up towards the podium, he shot a look at Katie. One that implored her to keep Danni and Duo away from each other as much as she could.

"Paige," he said, shaking his head. "Oh, Paige. I can't believe that you're gone. You were special, no doubt about that. We only knew each other for about a year, but there are so many good memories. Some that stick in the mind more than others."

* * *

_"How's it going up there?"_

_Looking down to her, Crane pulled himself out of the Rapidash Zord hatch, his fingers covered in oil from messing around in there._

_"Well, the zords are more or less fixed," he said, climbing down the ladder to the floor of the chamber under Mount Hielo. "Individually. Putting them together might be interesting. I might check that out this afternoon. I've also managed to fix some of the wiring to ensure that if needed to be, one or more of the zords can be called without the respective ranger there. Auto pilot, I believe it's called. I wouldn't send it in to battle, but it would be handy for forming the Megazord."_

_Wiping his hands down on an old rag, the red ranger took the offered flask that Paige offered him._

_"Thanks," he said, gulping down a mouth full of hot coffee. "Needed that."_

_"Ah, I just thought I'd bring you it round," she admitted. "Given that you're the only one who knows how to fix the Zords..."_

_"It's not really something that can be taught," Crane said, sounding slightly guilty. Something that quickly vanished moments later. "Don't worry, if it could then you'd all be out working on them right now. But, thanks for the drink."_

_Putting the flask down next to the small table, he made to go back up the ladder. Before hesitating and turning around to look at Paige._

_"Unless you feel like going for a sandwich. I'm quite hungry actually."_

* * *

"I..." he said, his shoulders dropping. "I guess I never really told you how much I cared about you. Every time I got close to, some crisis ended up arriving."

* * *

_"That wasn't the best part," she said, bitterly. "I was left to live with my grandmother and my three older sisters. My grandmother wasn't... She was ill a lot at this point. And, my three wonderful sisters decided that they'd rather have the easy life. And, that I'd be suited to a life of slavery. Fetching and carrying, that was my childhood. Being used as a source of cheap labour by the only family that I had. So, that's why I wasn't happy to see her."_

_"Explains a lot of things," Crane replied, slipping his hand over to rest on hers. Hoping that she'd draw some comfort from it. "So, why did you ask me to fake being your boyfriend?"_

_She let out a sigh, he could tell that it was a struggle for her to keep it together._

_"When... When I was growing up, they used to beat me. Taunt me. Tell me how nobody would ever love me. Guess a part of me didn't want to see the look on her face when she inevitably found out. Thanks for doing that for me. I really..."_

_"It's no problem," he said. "Just glad that I could help you out. I don't think that you've got anything to worry about right now."_

_"Well, thanks again," she replied, craning her neck to look him in the eyes. "You bailed me out of something that... Well, I didn't want to give her the satisfaction."_

_"Nobody ever does," Crane told her. "Anyway..."_

_Taking his hand away from hers, he started to get up._

_"See you when I see you."_

* * *

"I... All I can say is that I'll never feel the same again about anyone else," he finished. "But, it wasn't to be. In other circumstances, we might have been. But, that's not important right now. All that matters is that you rest in peace."

Taking a step down from the podium, his face said it all about how he was feeling. A stricken mixture of anger and total despair, the occasion really causing him visible anguish.

"Anyone else?" Lance wondered, looking across the deck. "At all?"

"Just me."

As Dorlinda stepped forward from the back of the room, a wreath in one hand, he placed it down on the podium. Starting to speak aloud, managing to keep more composure than Crane had.

"My people have a saying," he said. "The end is only the end if you accept it as such. Just because Paige has gone physically, doesn't mean that she has to be forgotten. Remember her and she will live forever."

Bowing his head slightly, he began to reach for the wreath.

"Dorlinda," Crane said. "Our decision is to toss that wreath into the ocean as a mark of respect for her. Forever floating as a sign of her memory. Will you do the honour?"

"Of course," the Lord of Time replied, closing his hand around the item. "Rest in peace, Paige Martinez."

Striding to the edge of the cruise liner, he took a deep breath, before dropping it over the side.

"We'll always remember you."

As the fifteen people present watched it splash down into the water, the combination of the wind and the tide started the process of taking it away. Far across the surf, gently floating into the distance.

* * *

"So, I guess that you guys are all released from duty," Katie remarked, as the twelve rangers sat in one of the bars aboard the Silver Gyarados. "The G-Force and SDI teams have been broken up. For one reason or another. We've emerged from the ashes..."

"Hey, if you ever need the help," Scott said. "Don't even hesitate to ask for some retro aid."

"I'm sure we won't," Duo commented, with a smirk.

"But, either way," Katie continued. "I've told Bill to swing by Johto and Sinnoh. This is a fast boat. If you want to go back to your own regions, then this is the best time for you to do it."

"I suppose I might go in and see the folks," Mitzi remarked. "If nothing else, see how much they've changed. The last few days got me thinking about how life's too short to hold grudges."

The only reply to that was Danni letting out a sound of derision, Duo rolling his eyes.

"We'll come to Sinnoh first," Xavier remarked. "By my reckoning."

"Great, I'll go then," Chip said. "Got to say that it's good to be free of all that expectation. All that pressure. As much as I enjoyed it while it lasted, it's kind of a relief now."

"We'll get off there as well," Andrew replied, gesturing to himself and Danni. "I'm sure that we can welcome the new start in a new region."

"Well, I was born there," Danni remarked. "So..."

"Ah well," the gold SDI ranger said. "Doesn't matter."

"So, that's five of you," Nahir mused. "What about you, Crane? Where are you going from here?"

"Honestly?" he replied. "I have no idea. It's something that I have to figure out."

* * *

"We're about to dock in Sinnoh," the voice of Bill through the intercom said, a slight yawn following it through. "So, can anyone about to get off please head for the exit?"

"Okay, let's go for it," Chip said, as he, Andrew and Danni began to get up and go for the exit. "Man, a year's gone so quickly."

"Hey, Chip," Mitzi wondered. "What's your best memory of the time in G-Force?"

"Errr...?"

* * *

_"And, look whose back," Darkia crowed, seeing him reappear on the rooftop. "Didn't think that you had it in you to do that to your own sister. How did it feel, doing that to her?"_

_"Shut up, I saved her!" Chip shouted._

_"Did it feel like you were going to be truly alone again?" Darkia taunted, ignoring him. "To think that she wouldn't be around any longer. Just like your parents..."_

_"Not cool, Darkia!" Chip screamed, bringing out his Thunder Lance. "You've crossed the line."_

_Even as the attack came towards him, the General leaped backwards out of the way. The building thundering under his weight as he crashed against the cold surface._

_"You ever think that your parents would be proud of you?" the monster continued. "I saw it all in her head. Can't even stop me. Poor little ranger, all alone in the world."_

_He evaded another attack, delivering a powerful kick into Chip's body. The attack enough to send him reeling away._

_"What would they say if they could see you here. Having your ass kicked. You think they'd be proud to call you their son. You're all alone, and nobody is coming to save you."_

_"That's not entirely true."_

_Gasping in shock, Darkia turned to see where the voice came from, only to be hit in the face with a barrage of petals. Courtesey of Mitzi's attack. The sudden velocity of the move enough to send him staggering back towards the edge._

_"Metagross Bullet Punch!" Scott yelled, throwing himself forward. His gloved fists glowing with a silver light as he landed several lightning fast punches into Darkia._

_"Chip, do it!" Mitzi shouted._

_Dragging himself up to his feet, Chip looked at Darkia with fury. Only disguised by his helmet._

_"I think they would be proud to call me their son," he replied, angrily. "Manectric Volt Tackle, now!"_

_With a primal roar of anger, he threw himself forward, his entire uniform surrounded by the crackling glow of electricity. The force enough to send Darkia screaming over the edge._

_Taking a step back away from the drop, the yellow ranger suddenly felt sick to his stomach at what had just happened. The way Darkia had gotten to him._

_"You okay?" Scott asked, coming over to him. Mitzi did the same, putting her arm around his shoulder._

_"Yeah, I'm coping," Chip admitted. "Damn Darkia."_

_"Dorlinda filled us in on what happened," Mitzi said. "That was a terrible thing to do."_

_"And, one day, Darkia is going to pay," the yellow ranger snapped._

_

* * *

_

"He did end up paying," Chip remarked. "Just a shame that it wasn't us."

"You're welcome by the way," Luke commented, smirking. "Thanks to us for doing your job for you."

"Eventually," Duo remarked. "Didn't you lose a stack of Megazord's in the process?"

"Yeah, okay," Danni said. "Because you've never had a Megazord trashed before."

"All the G-Force Zords are still in the Time Hole," Mitzi pointed out. "They were repaired. We used them to battle virus mutants in Hoenn."

"Heh, you know what I remember about that day when Darkia attacked your sister?" Danni asked, looking at Chip.

* * *

_"Well, that plan was a bust," Darkia growled, sat down on the couch. He could see Pura sat across from him, Chimzor next to her. "So much for doing something different."_

_There was one other being in the room, sat drinking from a bottle of water._

_"That plan was moronic," Chimzor commented. "Try to turn the yellow ranger's sister against him... That seems to be both cliched and..."_

_"I don't think it was a complete waste."_

_The fourth voice in the room caught Darkia's senses. Hoping just for something. For anything that could put a sheen on the failure._

_"What do you mean?" he asked, looking over to her to see what she was trying to imply._

_Leaning back in the seat, Danielle Tanner grinned at him._

_"Well, I think that they trust me more than ever now," she said, resting her arms behind her head._

* * *

"I think that brings back memories of my own," Andrew remarked. "Because... I did some things that I'm not proud of."

"Which nobody blames you for," Nahir pointed out. "We discovered that you were a good person. Someone to trust, someone to rely on in a time of crisis."

"Even if we did get off to a rocky start," Luke said, sarcastically.

* * *

_"Who are you?" Danni demanded. "And, where did you get that armour?"_

_"I am the Apprentice of the mighty and noble warrior, Zork," the Apprentice replied. "And, as for the armour, I stole it from right under your noses."_

_"Then, I guess we've got no choice but to take it back," Xavier snapped. "Hand it over, and we won't destroy you as we do so."_

_"You want it back," the Apprentice snarled. "Then, come and get it."_

_Not wasting any time, Xavier leaped forward to attack, going into a flying against the Apprentice. Only for the opponent to completely block it, grabbing the red rangers leg and hurling him back to where he had came._

_"Are you okay?" Katie asked, trying to help him up._

_"That looked like it hurt," Luke commented. "Is he really as strong as he looks?"_

_"Yes, on both counts," Xavier groaned. "He's a tough one. We have to work as a team here to do this. Otherwise, we've got no chance."_

_"Don't we do that normally?" Nahir asked, sarcastically. "Okay, let's go and get him."_

_Taking out their swords, the five of them began to circle the gold ranger._

_"You think that you can defeat me with greater numbers?" the Apprentice demanded, dropping a hand down to his waist. "Dragon Staff!"_

_Bringing the weapon out of its holster, he extended it out to its full length. A staff, with a Dragonite's head and body at the top, the rest of it a thick spike. Holding it with the handle behind the body, he began to keep a wary eye on the rangers._

_"He even stole the damn weapon," Luke complained. "That's just unfair."_

_"In battle, you make your own parity," the Apprentice replied. "Now, are we going to do this, or are you going to complain about it all day?"_

_Before any of them could reply, he smashed the business end of the weapon down into the ground._

_"Earth Strike!"_

_At the bellowed command, a huge shock wave rang out through the concrete, strong enough to throw all five rangers down to the ground._

* * *

"Yeah..." Andrew said. "Not my finest moment. I think that came later. There was a part right towards the end of my time with SDI that I cherish."

"Let me guess..." Katie remarked.

* * *

_"So, is everything okay?"_

_Looking around to the sound of the voice, Andrew saw Danni coming over to him, a hesitant expression on her face. He'd come out onto the roof to think things through, clear his head after the traumatic experience from earlier. Yet, part of him had expected her to come, another part of him secretly relieved at the sight of the yellow ranger._

_"Yeah," he replied. "I feel great. Didn't know you were there."_

_"Surprised you didn't sense me with your empathy," she remarked, coming to lean against the railings next to him._

_"Normally I might have," he admitted. "But, I think those days are gone now. Probably forever."_

_"What do you...?" she started to ask, before it dawned on her what he had meant. "The sword? It took your empathic abilities?"_

_"Looks like it," he said. "Guess I'm human again. Fully. Drained all that demon right out of me. Whatever I was in the past is gone."_

_Rolling her eyes, Danni let out a tsking sound._

_"No, it isn't!" she replied, only a trace of anger in her voice. "Honestly, have you learned nothing while you've been with us?"_

_"Just a few things," he answered, with a grin. "Most of what I..."_

_"There's more to you than the part that was demon," she groaned, rolling her eyes. "We didn't take you to our hearts because of your ability to annoy the crap out of us with your empathic abilities. If we saw the demon part of you... We accepted you. We didn't have a problem with it, unless you were picking private information out of us. That was annoying. But, we got past it. We didn't care! I didn't care."_

_"I know you didn't," he replied, smiling at her. "Sometimes, you get some interesting insights from those private thoughts."_

_"So... How long have you known?" she asked, not looking surprised._

_"Known?" Andrew replied, the smile growing wider. "Known what?"_

_"How I feel about you," the yellow ranger groaned. "That you knew full well."_

_"A while," he said. "Started to sense it shortly after the incident with Vulvoir. Not that I'm not flattered."_

_"Then how come you didn't act on it?" she wondered. "Most guys in your position..."_

_"I thought I'd wait for the right moment to go on it," he said, quietly. "Just wondering and waiting when that would be."_

_"So, this is your idea of the right moment?" Danni asked. "Terrific."_

_"Nah, it's mainly my thought that we're not going to make it through this alive," he said. His words dead serious. "I'm through with the secrecy. It's a terrible idea. So, Danielle Tanner. You're awesome. You're smart, you're funny, you're beautiful. You've got that crazy extreme side of you which jumps off cliffs. Something that terrifies me, the very thought of it. But, if I had to do it with you, it wouldn't seem so scary. Because, I finally realised how much I cared about you when Misteria nearly killed you earlier. I guess what I'm trying to say is..."_

_"I love you," she replied, the smile crawling out across her face. Unable to believe her luck, what he was saying to her. "Really?"_

_"If we're going to take on this final battle," he said, still serious in his voice. "Then, I thought you should know."_

_For once speechless, Danni felt him reach out to take her hands, his head coming down to place his mouth against her. The moment filling her with hope, with passion. With jubilation. It didn't take long for her to start to return the gesture, time slowing almost to a halt._

* * *

"Anyway, time is of the essence," Danni said, quickly. "So..."

"Hey, Danni?" Nahir asked. "What's your favourite memory of when we were with SDI?"

"Errr..." she replied, her face contorting into deep thought. "Let me think..."

* * *

_Knocking at the door, Danni was surprised by how quickly it opened to reveal Joe stood there. An annoyed look on his face._

_"What do you want?" he asked, sighing as he did so. "The last time I opened my door to you, it almost got blown off and my house nearly burned to the ground. Destroying a stack of priceless artefacts in the attic."_

_"Yeah, that's kind of why I'm here," she replied, gesturing to the box under her arm. "I wanted to apologise."_

_"Really?" Joe asked. "Nah, it's okay. You don't have to. I can rebuild. Make it better than ever. What's in the box."_

_"Well, after we destroyed Cryscaptor," Danni replied, with a smirk. "These were supposedly destroyed so don't let anyone know about them."_

_Reaching down and yanking the lid off, she held the contents up to the light. Revealing the five crystals that she'd acquired after the demon had been destroyed._

_"Hopefully, we're even now," she said, handing it to him. "Plus, you've got to restart that priceless collection somewhere."_

_"Danni, you didn't have to do it," Joe replied, exhaling sharply. "I was in shock earlier. I didn't expect you to show up on my doorstep and I thought that was the only reason you were there."_

_"What, I couldn't come and see my brother?" Danni asked. "I've been... I've missed you the last few years. Any chance that we can just forget about that disagreement."_

_"What disagreement?" Joe said, holding out his arms. A gesture that she returned with a hug, the two of them holding it for a few seconds._

_"You want some help redecorating?" Danni wondered, looking up at the mansion. "I've got some free time."_

* * *

"Other than that moment that Andrew described," she said. "That. Reconnecting with my brother."

"Bet I know what your worse moment is," Duo commented. "Your least favourite memory..."

Rolling her eyes in anger, she picked up a glass to throw at him. Only for the black ranger to step aside and turn invisible. The yellow SDI ranger silently snarling in anger at his callousness.

"Hey!" Katie demanded. "What did I say about powers for personal gain?"

"To avoid getting hurt seems like a good reason," Duo replied. "So, there..."

Shaking her head in anger, Danni strode out of the room. Andrew quickly following her. Offering a quick wave to the rest of the rangers, his old friends, Chip soon followed them.

"I'll miss those guys," Xavier remarked. "We've had some good times with them."

"Yeah," Luke said. "We did."

* * *

"So, Scott?"

Looking up at Xavier, the silver G-Force ranger raised an eyebrow to see what he wanted.

"Yeah?"

"What are your outstanding memories of your time as a ranger?"

"Well," he replied. "If you really want me to go into detail, then..."

* * *

_"Are you sure that you're okay?" Mitzi asked, having followed him to his apartment. He couldn't help but nod, grinning at her concern._

_"I'm fine, Mitz," he said, leaning against his wall. "Just had the strangest hallucination while laid on your couch. One where Crane didn't come here and..."_

_"Yeah, sometimes I wonder about that," she mused. "It could be more peaceful, but there's something that I would miss about the whole thing."_

_"What's that?" the silver ranger asked, holding a grin as he spoke. "The whole transforming into a brightly coloured costume thing?"_

_She rolled her eyes, before stretching up onto her tiptoes. Her face was barely centimetres away from him._

_"I'd never have met you," Mitzi said, her voice quiet._

_"Well, you might have done," he replied. "Admittedly, the chances would be less, but..."_

_He tailed off, looking pointedly at her._

_"What did you want to ask me?" Scott asked, folding his arms. "You said that you'd tell me when I came round. Now's your chance. Just you and me. Nobody else's here."_

_Suddenly going slightly red, Mitzi swallowed deeply, as she tried to find the way to say it._

_"Okay," she said, slowly. "I didn't want to ask you anything. Actually, I more wanted to tell you something. But, with the whole Shadow Force thing, it killed the mood."_

_"Know what you might mean," he replied, smiling._

_"I wanted to tell you how I feel," the green ranger said, suddenly growing in confidence. Now, her face was millimetres from his. "Feel about you."_

_"You saying what I think you're saying?" Scott asked, surprised. And, in true fashion, the surprise manifested into a grin._

_A grin that would have grown, had she not kissed him. Only replaced by surprise._

* * *

"Also," he continued. "There was when I first got my powers. That was quite good. Apart from the nausea and the not knowing who I was."

"I sort of remember that," Crane commented. "That wasn't a great time, at all."

* * *

_"Damn." He muttered. "Can't kids have anything better to do than break into abandoned buildings?"_

_He walked over to the window, and closed it._

_Scott sighed, before seeing the small silver box upon the hard wooden floor._

_"What is that?" He asked, walking over to it._

_He took a deep breath, before kneeling down and picking the box up._

_Scott examined it, seeing no outstanding marks on it. He then placed it on a nearby table and started to pull the box open._

_Inside, was something that looked like a wristwatch._

_"Strange." He said, picking it up. "What is this thing, and why is it here?"_

_He held up his wrist, and placed it around the skin, before fastening it._

_Almost instantly, he felt a strange sensation pass through him._

_"What the..?" Scott shouted, looking around the room, frantically._

_He shook his head, finding nothing out of order, before looking at the watch._

_Scott did a double take._

_What had once been a watch, was now a long piece of plastic and metal that looked like a Beldum._

_"What is that?" He asked, seeing a set of buttons upon it._

_Scott reached down and pushed one of the buttons..._

_Before something exploded inside his head, knocking him out cold._

* * *

"You attacked us after that," Duo pointed out. "And then..."

"Well, I joined the team," Scott said. "And..."

"Wow," Ryan commented. "All of this is so... Wow, that's all I can say. Hearing about all of your adventures is fantastic."

"To be fair," Luke remarked. "They didn't seem like it at the time. Nostalgia is a great thing."

"You know what I remember very fondly?" Mitzi asked. "It's not either of those, but rather..."

* * *

_"Well, as much as I like hearing the nice things about me," the pink ranger said with a smile. "We muddled on through it, and we're stronger for the adversity. Besides, Scott distracted him while I cut his tongue off."_

_"One thing I don't get," Duo wondered. "Why did a combination between a Treecko and a Swalot have a tongue like that?"_

_"Now, you're just splitting hairs," Paige told him. "We're superheroes. How often do things make sense."_

_"Amen to that," Crane replied, as Duo let out a grin._

_The source of which was revealed, as a Treecko charged over to them and hopped onto the table._

_"Where did that come from?" Mitzi wondered, slightly surprised by the sudden appearance of the lizard like Pokemon._

_"Hey," Scott replied, coming over. "Found this Treecko wandering around outside as I was coming in. Looked to be wild, so I drove it in here to see if you wanted it as a replacement for the one that we blew up."_

_"Well, that's kinda sweet," Paige remarked._

_"You sure that doesn't have a trainer?" Mitzi asked, the five of them watching the Pokemon sniff at the air._

_"Nah, at least nobody was claiming it," Scott replied, the Treecko looking over to him with interest._

_"Okay then," she said, smiling at him. "Thanks, Scott, I appreciate it."_

_"No problem," he replied, sitting down at the empty seat._

_As soon as he did so, the Treecko clearly smelled something in the air, his nostrils twitching. Then, he jumped down off the table, streaking towards Paige. And..._

_Both Duo and Scott burst out laughing at the sight, while the pink ranger looked annoyed at the event._

_"Well, looks like we're back to normal," Crane said, grinning._

* * *

"Hey, I'd forgotten about that," Duo remarked. "Being swallowed wasn't a nice feeling."

"You're not wrong," Mitzi said, before the old speakers above them began to crackle into life.

"Here we are," Bill announced. "Good old Johto. Anyone who wishes to get off here now can."

At the sound of the voice over the Silver Gyarados' intercom, Mitzi and Scott got up. Both ready to leave.

"I guess this is the end of it all," Scott commented, as the two of them made to walk out. "Stay in touch."

"We will," Ryan said. "Count on it."

* * *

Heading up to the top deck, the seven remaining rangers watched the silver and green G-Force rangers head off into the main area of Olivine City. Turning to wave them off, that being their final sight of them before they vanished into the crowds.

"Now, it just feels like we're alone again," Nahir commented, sadly. "But, in a way, that's a good thing."

"We can find those artefact's now," Luke said. "Once we get back to Verger."

* * *

"So, have you decided where you want to go yet?" Lance asked, looking over at Crane. Dorlinda walking into the room, yawning slightly.

"Actually, I want to go back to the future," Crane said, instantly looking over at the Lord of Time. "Apart from some wonderful friends, there's nothing else for me in this time."

"Oh thanks for that," Duo remarked, in mock hurt. "What are we..."

"He said apart from some wonderful friends," Xavier pointed out. "Were you listening at all?"

"I drift in and out," Duo admitted. "So..."

"We got that," Ryan smiled. "Are you sure, Crane? I mean..."

"Crane," Dorlinda said. "Are you sure? Once you go back to your own time, it will be very difficult for you to return to this time should you wish to do so. This is not a decision that you should go into lightly."

"My mind's made up," Crane insisted. "I want out of here. Everything I see reminds me of her."

"You really were in love with her, right?" Katie asked. "We're all feeling for you. Because..."  
"I know," Crane said. "Look, you guys are all awesome. I'm sure you'll do a great job of doing what you have to do. But, I need to get out of your hair. Do us all proud. Everyone who has fought for the region."

Taking a step forward, Dorlinda placed a hand on Crane's arm.

"Last chance," he warned. "Otherwise..."

Seeing the look on the red G-Force rangers face remain steadfast, the two figures instantly vanishing away into thin air.

* * *

"So," Katie said, seconds after the two of them had vanished. "Where do we go from here? What now and...?"

Before she could finish, Dorlinda appeared back out of nowhere. Reaching into his pocket to take out a package.

"Wait, I found this outside," Dorlinda said, tossing the brown envelope towards Katie. The new red ranger catching it in one hand, a look of surprise on her face as she did so. "It's addressed to you, so..."

Looking down at it, Katie saw her name written across the surface of it. Feeling it, she quickly noted that it was heavy. Also realising that it rattled when she shook it.

"Are you going to open it?" Bill asked. "See what it is?"

"Why not," she muttered, ripping it open. Tipping it upside down onto the desk, the nine people present in the room saw a strange white rock fall out onto it.

"Is that...?" Xavier started to ask, in surprise.

"It is," Lance confirmed, looking over at the item. "Although, who would...?"

"And why?" Luke asked. "Something is strange here."

Even as he finished speaking, the NeverMeltIce began to hover up off the desk, a chilling white energy beginning to rake across it.

"What the..." Duo shouted, struggling to figure out what was going on in front of them. "That's not..."

"What's happening?" Nahir yelled, as the energy within the stone began to form a shape in the middle of the room. "This isn't natural!"

Only Bill remained impassive, a look of glee upon his face as he watched the shape take form. Starting with the bones, it quickly became clear that a person was being created in front of them. The bones suddenly became muscle, the muscle being covered with skin, and some parts of the skin being masked by clothes.

As the transformation finished, the nine people present looked at the strawberry blond in front of them. From the pink stripes in that hair, to the hazel eyes to the white long sleeved shirt with the twin pink stripes on the arms.

"Impossible!" Lance roared, taking a step back in shock.

"Paige!" Nahir shouted.

"Paige?" Bill asked. "So this is..."

"Blondie!" Duo exclaimed. "What the..."

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Fooled ya... Red herring and all.**

**Hee hee hee...**

**Anyway, thanks for all the reviews in Wrath Of The Coppingers. I know that the bad guys didn't appear, but...**

**Actually, if you include Wrath Of The Coppingers as one long episode, this is the one hundredth chapter/episode of the Poké Rangers Verger saga. Hence the flashbacks, the story so far. Also, I thought it a fitting way to say farewell to all the other rangers who have fought to try and save the region.**

**Anyway, some of it might be disjointed, but I hope you can look past it and keep reading. It will get better. A lot better.**

**Next chapter is entitled Blond Spectre. I think it might be explanitory where that comes from. And for the first time in a while, I can write preview below, again.**

**Also, the new credits will appear in the next chapter.**

**Ah, thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review. Please. I'm starting to do something different as a change from this chapter on. Something that others have done, but... Anyway, Bill will reply to reviews today. Something I'm trialling.**

* * *

**Chapter Two, Blond Spectre, Preview.**

**Paige: What the hell happened to me?**

**Bill: You're a ghost.**

**Paige: You're joking, right?**

**Dennis: What happened to us?**

**Noland: We can't stay like this.**

**Dennis: This creature shall be our eyes and ears. Arise, Soulguzzler.**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	2. Blond Spectre

Chapter Two. Blond Spectre.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_The criminal group, the Coppingers attacked Verger with their robotic soldiers, the Dogbots. As the G-Force and SDI rangers came to try and defend the region, they were beaten by the opponents and their powers rendered useless. Thanks to Dorlinda, Bill and Lance, they headed to Ragnar Island where they managed to gain the power of the Eevee, taking new powers and colours to face the Coppinger threat. Managing to sneak onto the Coppinger Aerial Platform, they saved their captured friends before using the Overload Megazord to fight off two robots. However, in the process, the Coppingers got away and Paige was seemingly killed after falling off the Megazord. As the Coppingers were zapped with some strange smoke from the Genesis Book, the other rangers mourned Paige. Before the former rangers headed back to their own regions and Crane went back to the future, having confessed how he felt to everyone about Paige. Only for Dorlinda to give a packet to Katie, who opened it up. As everyone watched, Paige suddenly appeared out of the stone inside, much to their surprise..._

* * *

"What the..."

At Duo's exclamation, Paige looked up in shock. Her eyes widening by the second, completely surprised by the events that had passed.

"Where am I?" she asked. "What happened? What the hell happened to me?"

"We were hoping that you could tell us," Ryan offered. "Because..."

Her eyes half closing in bemusement, everyone else could tell that she was trying to think back.

"I... I can remember..." she slowly said. "Just..."

_Falling through the air, the eighty foot drop taking her by surprise. Something that she genuinely hadn't expected, the sudden landing quite literally taking her breath away for a second. Before her body began to spasm, the bones in her legs completely shattered by the fall. Screaming in pain, the blood erupted out of her throat, spattering out against her face. Suddenly feeling so warm against her cooling skin._

_"No," she whispered, seeing the Overload Megazord vanish away over the side of the platform. "No! No!"_

_The effort from the shouts taking over her broken body for the moment, she began to choke and cough under the effort. It hurt to move at all, her only option to remain still and wait for the inevitable. The screeching crouch of the plane behind her, moving ever closer across the steel of the platform, the smoke from its burning wings entering her nostrils._

_And then, it all stopped around her. The continuous screech seeming to halt in the middle of its rake, a sudden voice cutting through her pain._

_"Dear dear dear," it said, softly. The loss of blood through her wounds blurring her senses so that she couldn't tell anything about it. Even if it was male or female. "You are in a bit of a pickle. Careless of you to fall."_

_Wanting so much to reply angrily, to make a point about how it hadn't been her intention, she was only able to muster up a choke in response._

_"Yet, you have a connection to them," the voice commented. "You still have a part to play in this yet. If you want it. Let's see... I can offer you a second chance. Or, you can go off into the sweet release of death. Give the fight up, away from all the hassle. I can see that you're in a lot of pain, so if you want the first option, cough once. If it's the latter, then cough twice."_

_Instantly letting out a single cough, Paige tried to clear her throat for another. Just wanting it over, but her throat was in so much pain..._

_"Very well," the voice said, a white light erupting out across her body. All the pain, all the agony, all the conscious thought melting away..._

"Interesting story," Xavier remarked. "So, looks like you're helping us out with this. Welcome back to the team."

"Forget this," she exclaimed, heading for the door. "I don't need it right now. Everyone else gets a get out. I'm..."

As she placed her hand on the door handle, it instantly passed through it. As a look of surprise passed across her face, she tried to do it again. With the same results. At the third attempt, the surprise turned to shock. She reached up to the side of the door, trying to pull it open that way. Only to stagger forward and end up half through the thing.

"How's the dramatic exit going for you?" Luke wondered, slightly sarcastically. A venomous look coming back his way in reply.

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph on the Coppinger Aerial Platform. Dogbots attack, and lose the fight._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The former rangers wave at the camera, before fading away._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"Oh no," Paige said, looking at her hand extended through the door. "This isn't good. I so wish that I could faint right now."

"You know what this looks like, right?" Duo asked. "I mean, it looks like..."

"Don't say it," she warned. "Just..."  
"You're a ghost," Bill offered. "That."

"What did I just say?" she demanded. "This is just too weird. You're joking right."

"He's not the one whose half stuck inside a door," Nahir pointed out. "Have to say it, but I think you're a ghost."

"Why not," Xavier commented. "We've had demons. Why not ghosts."

"I'm not a spook," she insisted. "I..."

"One way to find out," Dorlinda said, reaching his hand into his coat pocket. Pulling out a strange device which he tossed over to Bill. "Run that over her when you get the chance. Spectral Scanner XX84THI. A fiftieth century Silph Scope. If she's a ghost, then..."

"Two things," Katie said, shaking her head. "One, where the heck are you going? And two, you just happen to have that on your person?"

"Well, there is such a thing as foresight," he replied. "I picked it up after I dropped Crane off. I didn't have one. Also, at the same time, I left the kettle on. Okay, bye, I'll be in touch."

"Yeah right," Duo muttered, as the Lord of Time vanished out of view. "I've been in the Time Hole. He doesn't even have a kettle."

"If he can pick up a Spectral Scanner XX84-Whatever, then I'm sure he can pick up a kettle," Luke pointed out.

* * *

"Hmmm," Bill said, running the scanner across the spectral pink G-Force ranger. "Interesting. Most interesting."

"What is?" Paige demanded, angrily. "I'm not getting any solider here."

"Nah, I've just noticed," the PokéManiac replied. "Someone left a sticker on this scanner. A Solrock. Who the heck left a Solrock sticker on my scanner?"

"Try saying that really quickly," Luke muttered. "I dare you."

"Nobody knows where Dorlinda got it from," Nahir said. "He might have taken it from a child for all we know."

"He might have done," Duo remarked. "For all we know. He's just about devious enough for anything."

"Errr... What about me?" Paige asked. "Still not corporeal here. Getting more annoyed."

"And what are you going to do about it to make me go quicker?" Bill wondered. "I'm working as fast as I can."

"Now, there are ghosts," Lance muttered. "Incredible. Just incredible."

"Want to swap?" Paige demanded. "Because..."

"Okay, my examination is complete," Bill said, interrupting her. "So... You currently don't have a body, you're technically not there, but we can see and hear you..."

"You're not joking," Luke muttered. His comment drawing a glare from Paige, as Bill spoke back up.

"Although you're not there, you are giving off some residual heat and also I can pick up some brain activity."

As Duo opened his mouth up, Paige rounded on him instantly.

"Don't you dare," she snapped. "I know you, Duo Roronoa and I know what you're thinking."

"Heh," the black ranger replied. "Just say that I decided to say it. You're a ghost. What the heck are you going to do about it."

"When you go to bars to pick up girls, I'll tag along and yell out how you broke up with Danni," Paige replied. "Either that, or how you'd hit on a Pinsir if it was wearing a skirt."

"But, you wouldn't mention any of my good points," he bemoaned. "Honestly... Look, I've taken a lot of crap about that stuff with Danni. Nobody ever bothers to hear my part of the story..."

"Because we don't care," Luke replied. "I mean... I don't."

"Anyway..." Katie said, rubbing her hands together. "Where do we go from here?"

* * *

Groaning in pain, Dennis sat up. Rubbing his head, instantly recoiling slightly in pain as something sharp dug against his forehead. Even feeling it through his skin, something that felt harder than normal.

"What's going on?" he demanded, looking over to the prone forms of his fellow Coppingers. "Everyone on your feet, right now!"

As they slowly and reluctantly got up, all groaning with the pain from their predicament, Dennis felt a wave of revulsion pass across him. Followed by a sense of terror.

"Oh no," he said. "Tell me that this hasn't happened to me."

The figure that he assumed was Fuller, now a humanoid Gyarados creature, her face resembling that of the water and flying type Pokémon. Her body was covered in blue and cream scales, while her rear extended out into a tail. Her hands and feet extending out into huge Scyther claws. Across from her, Arbok now had the head of a Seviper, ironically. One of his arms resembling the tail of that same Pokémon. The rest of his body was that of an Alakazam, minus a spoon in the one good hand. Next, Jake had the head of a Honchkrow, his beak clicking away in anger. His body was that of a Weavile, while he had a Sableye face in the middle of his stomach. His beard could still be seen on the chin of the Honchkrow, creating a strange effect. Next to him, Noland had the head of an Articuno, while his body had shrank to the general size of a Porygon. He also had the wings of an Articuno, and the arms of a Kirlia. Finally, Dennis strode over to a puddle, looking at himself. Feeling sick to his stomach, as he looked at the Machoke body, the Salamence head, the Houndoom horns and the Electivire tails. His old cowboy hat still remained, only now it seemed to be made out of Salamence scales, his hands possessing a set of claws that looked like they belonged to the Dragon Pokémon.

"What happened to us?" he said, again recoiling. "This is... Horrible."

"We can't stay like this," Noland groaned. "Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Our cover is blown."

"That book mutated us," Fuller complained. "Quick, open it up again. Try to change us back."

"I don't think that will work," Arbok remarked. "It must have been a security system to stop us from using it."

Looking over at the book, he saw the indents on the cover, letting out a hiss of anger as he realised.

"Those indents," he said. "They must be for something else. This book isn't completed. Without them, we can't access its power and return to normal."

"You mean that we're stuck like this?" Jake snarled, furiously clicking his beak. "Whose bright idea was it to open the damn book up?"

Feeling the ferocious glare that Dennis was giving him, he quickly let out a gulp. Trying to readdress his comment, without being hurt.

"I mean, it was a good plan but I'm sure that there was more we could have done," he said, as a Drowzee walked out from the trees around them.

"We can't go out and find stones like this," Fuller whined. "I'm hideous."

"No more than usual," Jake snickered. "But, we need to do it. Somehow."

"Then, this creature shall be our eyes and ears," Dennis said, looking at the Drowzee in front of them. Opening the Genesis Book back up, he watched the smoke wash across the Pokémon, the creature instantly mutating in much the same way as they all had. "Arise, Soulguzzler."

As the smoke cleared away, they saw their new monster appear. The Drowzee having mutated to the shape of a Snorlax, taking the colours of the sleepy Pokémon in the style of a Drowzee. Most of its head was that of a Snorlax, but it still had the trunk-like nose of a Drowzee.

Yawning slightly, it got up, looking at the Coppingers.

"Yeah?" he asked. "What you want?"

"Show some respect to your master," Dennis growled. "We need you to go out and look for the other nine parts of this book. When you find them, bring them to us."

"I think you're missing the point of me," Soulguzzler replied, sleepily. "My purpose is to eat souls. Not go hunting for rocks."

"Are you disobeying me?" Dennis demanded. "I'm giving you an order."

"And I'm telling you that..." Soulguzzler replied, before seeing the thunderous glare that he was being given by the Coppinger leader. "... I can go and eat the souls of peope. And in the process, I can search for the stones."

"That's better," Dennis snapped, before the monster in front of them vanished away. "They better not all be that impudent."

* * *

"Anyone seen Bill or Lance recently?" Nahir asked, walking into the control room at the top of the Silver Gyarados. "I haven't..."

"He's been locked in his work room ever since we finished trying to work out what was wrong with Paige," Ryan replied, looking over at her. "If you walk past, you can hear an occasional banging, but not much more."

"All that we can do right now is try and wait for the ship to return to Verger," Xavier remarked. "We're twenty miles from Cuellar City. At the rate that we're going, we should be there within the next hour, hour and a bit."

"Small relief," Luke commented. "Where are we even going to start to look for these pieces of the Genesis Book? We haven't got a clue."

"Guess we'll have to play it by ear," Katie said. "Something will turn up eventually. It usually does."

Right on cue, a set of alarms began to ring out in the control room. The screens erupting into action, showing scenes of Soulguzzler attacking one of the cities in Verger. Barely seconds later, Bill came barreling into the room, gasping for breath.

"Excellent," he remarked, looking at the screens. "I hacked into one of the satellites above us to let me know whenever a monster attacked so I could film it. But, I guess that you've got a reason to use it now."

"We need to get over there," Duo said, as the strange monster tried to bite down on some passing civillians. "Before it gets worse."

"Oh terrific," Nahir remarked. "Looks like we're heading out into battle. Again."

"I guess I'll be here then," Paige said. "Don't worry about me. You guys just..."

"Don't worry," Xavier offered. "We'll take care of this threat and then we'll start to try and find some way of returning you to normal."

"Guess I can't ask more than that," she muttered. "It's not like I'm getting any older. That's kinda my problem."

"Hey, rangers," he said. "We're still ten miles from land. You need some way of getting across to the mainland quickly. Which is why I've just been putting the finishing touches to something."

"Anything good?" Luke asked, out of interest.

"Come down and look," Bill offered. "They're pretty awesome."

* * *

"Holy terrible Darkrai!" Ryan exclaimed, as the six rangers, plus Paige followed Bill into his work room. Lance over by one of the vehicles in front of them, finishing something up. "These are..."

"I don't believe it," Nahir said, running her eyes across the vehicles. They were big and circular, with seats sticking out of the middle. In front of the seat, there was a control panel, shielded by the sides of the vehicles. Each was painted in one of the six ranger colours.

"These are..." Bill said, confidently. "Well, we don't have a great name for them. At the moment, I'm calling them the Hover Chasers."

"Do they hover?" Luke wondered. "Or is the name just for show?"

"They hover," Bill replied. "And they're pretty damn nippy as well. Capable of going from zip to eight hundred miles per hour in twenty seconds flat. Long as you don't hit any planes or Pidgey's, you can get across the region in them in no time at all."

"I take it that it's best to use them while morphed," Duo commented. "Since eight hundred miles per hour in human form would probably cause us some bad damage."

"Yeah..." Bill said. "Probably. But, it's not like you can't morph."

"True," Katie replied. "Okay, let's do it."

As one, the six of them brought their wrist morphers up. Making to push the first button on the devices. Meanwhile, Bill hit something on his desk, the ground below them starting to rise up. The realisation that it was an elevator passing across them.

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

Having morphed into their costumes, the group arrived on the deck, their new vehicles now able to get up and away.

"Time to give them a test drive then," Xavier remarked, hopping into the blue Hover Chaser. "Let's just hope that they don't blow up."

"It can't be as awesome as going through cyberspace on a motorcycle," Duo commented, getting into the black one. "Can it?"

"You tell us," Nahir said, in the process of climbing on board the yellow one. "We weren't there. For all we know, that's a lie."

"For once," Paige offered, from across the deck. Having come up with the elevator. "He's not lying."

"There's a surprise," Katie said, sarcastically. Already settled into the red Hover Chaser. "Anyway, let's head off and stop that threat."

"Amen to that," Bill remarked. "You can summon these at any time by using the third button on your morpher. First one being for morphing, the second one for communication..."

"So, what's the fourth one for?" Ryan wondered, already switching on the engines of the green Hover Chaser. "Or, have you not worked that out yet?"

"That's more or less the truth," Bill admitted. "I'm sure it'll all... Give me a chance."

"Good luck, rangers," Lance offered. "Try not to do something stupid that'll get you all killed."

"I don't think I've ever done anything stupid," Luke remarked, having to shout above the roar of the Hover Chase engines. "Not recently anyway... Other than go on that quest to Ragnar Island and get involved in this."

"Oh come on," Nahir said. "You know you enjoy it. You just don't admit it."

"Do I have to dignify that with a response?" the purple ranger replied, shaking his head. "No, because... Just no."

"You done yet?" Katie asked. "Because..."

Instead of finishing the question, she threw her vehicle into gear, the Hover Chaser accelerating up off into the sky. The other five soon following, virtually everyone surprised by how easy the controls were to get to grips with.

"That looks like fun," Paige muttered, sadly.

"Hey, come on," Bill replied. "Of course it's fun. But, don't worry. At some point, I'll find a way to make you corporeal again. Anything can be achieved if you put your mind to it."

"Except avoiding death," Lance pointed out. "Except... It appears that is what you did do. Strange, most strange."

* * *

As the Hover Chasers erupted over the scenes of chaos below them, the rangers saw Soulguzzler still on the attack. Grabbing people who got close to him, sucking some sort of white spirit out of them, before casting their still bodies aside.

"Let's put him in his place," Katie said, standing up inside the vehicle. "Ready?"

"Just about," Xavier replied, as the six of them jumped out of the Hover Chasers, landing across from the monster on the ground.

"Give me your souls!" Soulguzzler roared, still not having noticed them.

"What is this guy, a Channeler in disguise?" Duo wondered. "That's so much of a cliché, I can't even..."

Before he could finish speaking, Soulguzzler spun around to hurl a Psybeam attack at him. The black ranger taking the attack with ease.

"That all you got?" Duo taunted. "Because..."

"Whatever you were going to say, don't," Nahir warned. "Please. It's going to make me feel uncomfortable."

Roaring in anger, Soulguzzler jumped up, before coming crashing down. The sudden impact causing the ground to shake, throwing the six rangers to the ground in pain.

"Man, that hurt!" Ryan exclaimed. "Do they all hurt like that?"

"Oh yeah," Luke said, sitting up. "I'm already annoyed with this thing."

"I'll give you some cover," Katie offered, her hands falling to the Heat Blasters at her waist. "You guys flank him and get ready to attack."

"Sounds like a solid strategy," Xavier commented, getting ready to move.

"I think it's time to even up the odds," Soulguzzler remarked, tossing an item up into the air. Something that resembled a black and silver Poké Ball, the device opening up to let loose about a dozen Dogbots.

"New plan, ma'am?" Luke said, ever so slightly sarcastically. "I think it's time for one."

"Nah, old plan still works well," she replied, springing up off the ground into the air. Firing several blasts of flaming hot plasma from her twin pistols into the machines, her shots raking through three of them instantly to melt away their key systems.

Not hestitating, the rest of the rangers went to join in the fight.

"Shadow Sabre!"

"Tidal Trident!"

"Psycho Spear!"

"Storm Staff!"

"Fauna Hammer!"

Watching them summon their weapons, the Dogbots instantly began to howl in anticipation of the challenge. Not hesitating, Xavier went in hard and fast, impaling two with his trident, before tossing them up into the air. Across from him, Nahir struck out skillfully with her staff, managing to knock the head off one of the Dogbots before taking out the legs of another. The one that had fallen instantly getting its head crushed by Ryan's hammer, the green ranger swinging the weapon back to throw one of the robots that was behind him up into the air for Luke to leap up and hit with his spear. The blade piercing straight through the mixture of plastic and metal that passed for its skin, Luke smashing it into the ground with little mercy. With four remaining, all surrounding Duo, the black ranger gracefully swept his sword up and around. Easily cutting two in half, he jumped up and kicked their upper bodies towards the other two Dogbots, the strikes knocking them to the ground.

"That really was easy," Nahir remarked, turning her attention to where Katie had gone to fight Soulguzzler. The cumbersome monster trying to hit her with a Mega Punch, only for the red ranger to flip back away from the attack. Managing to dislodge one of the Heat Blasters from her waist, the weapon dropping into her hand between back flips to allow her to fire several times into its head. The monster roaring in pain, burns erupting across his skin around the eyes.

"Have to admit it," Luke commented. "That does look undeniably awesome."

"Kill you to say that?" Katie asked, grinning at him from under her helmet. "Are you guys going to stand there, or attack?"

"Attacking seems good right about now," Ryan said, as Luke and Nahir leaped forward through the air, brandishing their weapons.

"Psycho Cut!"

"Spark Strike!"

At their commands, two attacks raked against Soulguzzler's body. A vicious cut of psychic energy, and a deeply powerful jolt of electricity, both causing him to drop to one knee. Next, Xavier, Duo and Ryan all threw themselves to attack, their weapons swinging out.

"Waterfall!"

"Night Slash!"

"Frenzy Plant!"

This time, a trio of attacks crashed against the monster, water, dark and grass type energy being dealt to him, causing even more damage. Finally, Katie came back to attack, throwing herself out in a corkscrew motion, firing her two Heat Blasters out in front of her. The spinning vortex of fire smashing against the monster, forcing him down to the ground where he exploded. As he did so, the souls of all the people that he had attacked, returned to the fallen bodies, the victims sitting up to see the sight of the rangers celebrating.

* * *

"Well, that was a failure," Jake commented, as they watched Soulguzzler go down, in the puddle in front of them. "He didn't have a clue."

"Will we ever be rid of those rangers?" Dennis wondered, still holding the Genesis Book. "There has to be some way that he can continue the fight."

As he finished speaking, a strange ball of white light erupted out of the book, powering up into the air. Much to the surprise of everyone present.

"Now, where the hell's that going?" Arbok demanded.

As the Genesis Rangers celebrated their victory, the ball of white light fell down out of the sky in front of them, landing against the remains of Soulguzzler. In no time at all, it caused him to reform and instantly get back up. Shooting up to many times his normal size, the monster letting out a roar of anger.

* * *

"Guess they can grow," Xavier remarked. "Anyone surprised at all?"

"Not really," Katie replied. "Guess it's time to transform."

As she gave the command, their ranger colours began to emanate out of the elemental symbols on their chests. Their bodies growing to a giant size, transforming that into their Eevee power base.

"Feels a bit different this time," Nahir commented. "It's... Better."

"Overload Zords!" Katie shouted. "Megazord formation!"

At her command, the Eevolution forms began to transform into robots. The rangers appearing inside the cockpit of the machines. In no time at all, the six Zords began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbsand tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. As the Megazord stood up straight, it stretched out its arms.

"What?" Soulguzzler demanded. "You challenging me?"

"Apparently, we are," Ryan commented, as Katie brought the Overload Megazord over towards the foe. Bringing its arms up, it punched the monster twice in the face, Soulguzzler growling in pain. Shaking it off, he struck back with a Mega Punch. The strike causing the robot to shake violently, staggering it back.

"We've come a long way," Luke remarked, sarcastically. "First it was demons. Then robots. Now, your garden variety fat ass monster."

"I'm not fat!" Soulguzzler roared, hitting the Overload Megazord with another set of Mega Punches. Forcing it back, some dents starting to appear in the armour.

"Anyone think that it's time for a different tactic?" Xavier wondered. "If in doubt, shoot it. Genesis Blaster!"

At his command, the side of the Vaporeon leg opened up, a pistol emerging out of storage. Bringing it up, the Overload Megazord levelled it at the monster.

"You don't scare me!" Soulguzzler roared, charging towards them. Each foot step causing the ground to shake under the thunderous steps.

"Dark Pulse!" Katie shouted, pressing her finger against the trigger. "Locked on and fire!"

In no time at all, several beams of black energy erupted from the barrel, crashing against Soulguzzler's head. The shots staggering him, the Genesis Blaster being returned to its holster, before the Megazord brought its arm up.

"Genesis Staff!" Katie yelled, a new weapon appearing within its grip. A giant staff with a large blade on the end. The Megazord moving forward again, it raked the weapon against Soulguzzler's body, causing the monster to roar in pain as the blade dug in deep.

"Let's put it out of its misery," Nahir said. "Anyone got a problem with that?"

"Not really," Duo replied. "Time to exterminate this... Whatever it is."

"Element Overload!" the six rangers yelled, the Genesis Staff starting to glow, as it swiped against Soulguzzler six times. Each time glowing in one of the six ranger colours, before the monster staggered back, completely overcome by the pain. Roaring in pain, he collapsed to the ground before exploding.

"Some things never change," Duo remarked, the giant robot lowering its weapon. "Just like old times."

"You're not kidding," Xavier commented. "They still explode very well."

"Guess that was the Coppinger's striking back," Katie remarked, pensively. "They'll soon be having another crack. But, we did good today. Good job, team."

* * *

"I can't believe that they destroyed that useless Soulguzzler," Fuller whined. "I mean..."

"I can," Jake commented. "Jeez, pathetic. This isn't going to work."

"So," Dennis said, rolling his eyes. "We need a new plan. Get out on the phone, alert all other key members of our organisation. Get them over here. It's time that they were introduced to the power of the Genesis Book."

"You can't be serious," Noland remarked, slightly shocked by the order. "Put them through what we just went through."

"Does that give you a problem?" Dennis asked, his eyes narrowing at the Frontier Brain.

"Not in the slightest," Noland replied, his expression not changing. "Some of them could do with the kick up the ass."

* * *

"So," Bill said, as the six Hover Chasers landed in front of him on the deck of the Silver Gyarados. "Guess you'll be heading off right now. We're landed in Cuellar City, you can go and..."

"Actually, Bill," Katie replied, seriously. "You came through for us there. Scratch that, both of you came through for us. With the Hover Chasers. They're awesome."

"No kidding," Duo said. "That's one of the closest things available to actual flight. Other than teaching my Pidgeotto Fly. Which would be..."

"What are you actually trying to say?" Lance asked, ignoring Duo to look at Katie. "Because..."

"Well," she said. "On the way back over here, we had a talk. And we were wondering if we could continue to keep using the Silver Gyarados as a base of operations. If you two wouldn't mind helping us out with advice and the like, then..."

"It really would be appreciated," Nahir said. "The two of you obviously know what you're doing..."

"It's not like you don't have the space," Luke continued. "This boat is huge..."

"And you really wouldn't want to be responsible for Verger getting trashed, would you?" Xavier asked.

"Well," Bill replied, grinning over at Lance. "I guess we can't really turn it down, can we?"

"I was going to stick with it, whether you liked it or not," Lance pointed out. "So, it's a yes from me."

"Then, we're officially a full team," Ryan said. "Nice one."

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Back to the action, if you pardon the pun.**

**So, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. I had quite a bit of fun writing it.**

**The season's action officially starts here.**

**So, thanks for the reviews and the positive reception. I think...**

**The next one is Leader Of The Pack. The preview below as usual.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Please! Let's see... Paige will reply to reviews for this one. Still trialling it for the first five chapters.**

* * *

**Chapter Three, Leader Of The Pack, preview.**

**Katie: Are you kidding? This rocks.**

**Xavier: Glad you're enjoying leadership so much.**

**Katie: I need to sort someone out as my second in command.**

**Ryan: She did what?**

**Bill: There's some sort of Nido... Hybrid attacking Red Moon City.**

**Duo: Time to take the initiative.**

**Xavier: Wondered how long it'd take for some of us to get captured.**

**Katie: We have to save them.**

**Xavier: Oh, now you want my help.**

* * *

**Coming soon.**


	3. Leader Of The Pack

Chapter Three. Leader Of The Pack.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As Katie opened up a package, a white rock fell out of it, revealing a reborn Paige. As Bill examined her, it became clear that she had returned from death as a ghost. Meanwhile, the Coppingers awoke to find themselves heavily mutated after the corrosive effect of the Genesis Book upon them. As Dennis used it on a Drowzee, it created the Soulguzzler monster who was sent to attack Cuellar City. With the rangers miles out from land, still on board the Silver Gyarados, Bill and Lance unveiled the Hover Chasers, a way of getting around quickly. As the rangers raced into battle, they managed to destroy Soulguzzler twice and save the people whose souls he had devoured. Watching the battle, Dennis ordered that the rest of the Coppinger Elites be brought before him to recieve the same treatment as the others. Meanwhile, Lance and Bill became part of the team, everyone agreeing to use the Silver Gyarados as a base of operations._

* * *

"Ah, Eon City," Katie said, as the six rangers came out from an alley within the city. Having just jumped off their Hover Chasers and demorphed out of their costumes. "Home sweet home."

"It sure has been a while," Duo commented. "I mean... Last time I was here, a huge mutant was trying to wreck everything. Actually, that's a lie. I came here to do some apprentice work with Ethan."

"Never been here before," Luke remarked, looking around the streets with distaste. "Not so impressed. Name me one good thing to have come out of this city."

"Errr... Katie," Xavier replied, rolling his eyes. "She's their most famous export. That and Eevee eggs."

"I see..." Luke replied. "And whose this Katie?"

"Don't make me toss a fire ball at you," she warned. "Because I will. Be as insulting as you want any other town in the entire world but not my own home town."

"That makes no sense," he remarked. "But, okay. On pain of death by fire."

"Smart man," she replied, craning her head back to take a deep breath. "Ah, this city smells exactly the same as the last time I was here."

"Is that a good thing?" Ryan wondered. "I mean..."

"So, Bill wants us to pick up a few items for the Silver Gyarados?" Nahir asked, interrupting him before Katie could snap at the green ranger. "Where do we even start?"

"The Poké Mart?" Luke suggested. "Simple when you think about it."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph on the Coppinger Aerial Platform. Dogbots attack, and lose the fight._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The former rangers wave at the camera, before fading away._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"Nice jacket," Xavier remarked, as Duo came over to where he, Luke and Ryan were sat in the Pokémon Centre cafe section. The black ranger having acquired a black leather jacket with a huge Umbreon emblazoned on the back. Under the coat, he wore a white shirt and black jeans complete with a pair of white trainers. "Not at all subtle though."

"Ah, you can get these things all over the city," Duo replied. "Eevee's like the national Pokémon. You wear one of these and they know where've you been."

"Tasteless," Luke commented, having replaced his original clothes with a purple shirt and a pair of black pants. "You'd never catch me wearing an Espeon one."

Out of all of them, Ryan was the only one not to have changed his clothes to compensate for the new colour. Xavier had replaced his black sweat pants with blue ones and his red sweat shirt with a blue and white striped one. Otherwise, he was still wearing the same thing.

"I'm not really a coat person," the blue ranger commented. "Just a quirk really."

"Yeah, you're insane, we get it," Luke remarked, looking at the bags by his feet. "Wonder if those two managed to find what they were looking for."

"Couldn't tell you," Ryan offered. "But... They're just coming in, so we'll soon find out."

Looking around, the four male rangers saw Katie and Nahir coming into the Pokémon Centre. Both of them wearing some new attire, much in the same way as the rest of them. Nahir was wearing a pair of designer jeans with pink stripes down the side, and a yellow short sleeved shirt. Katie had opted for a red dress, black leggings and a pair of black shoes. Duo letting out a slight whistle, much to the surprise of the people around them who instantly looked at them.

"Could you draw any more attention to us?" Xavier wondered, rolling his eyes. "Jeez."

"I could, but do you really want me to?" the black ranger asked. "I mean..."

"What's going on?" Katie asked, slipping into a chair. "You guys arguing again."

"Again?" Xavier asked. "We don't do it that often. Just when Duo wears a tacky coat."

"What's tacky about this jacket?" Duo insisted. "It's awesome."

"Nah, it looks nice," Katie said, a smile fluttering across her face. "There is just one little thing wrong with it."

"And, what's that?" the black ranger asked, not really listening.

"Errr... That's the woman's version," she replied. "They're really really similar, so..."  
"You're joking, right?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at her. "I just spent forty bucks on the coat."

"Hope you kept your receipt," Nahir offered, smiling at him sweetly. "Because..."

Without hesitating, Duo got to his feet and began to run out of the Pokémon Centre. Much to the laughter of the two female rangers.

"What?" Ryan asked. "What did you...?"

"Can't believe he bought that," Katie snickered. "We were winding him up."

As one, Luke and Xavier both burst out into laughter. The concept amusing both of them.

* * *

"Can't believe that you did that," Duo grumbled, as they walked through the corridors of the Silver Gyarados. "I really thought that I'd been conned for a moment there."

"Oh lighten up," Katie said. "Thought that you could take a joke."

"No, I can give a joke," he replied. "I'm surprisingly neutral on taking them."

"Typical," Nahir muttered. "I shouldn't be surprised. Really, I shouldn't."

"But, you are," Duo remarked, smirking. "I have that effect of people."

"I have to wonder though," Xavier said. "Was it really necessary to send the whole team over to Eon City? What if something had happened?"

"It didn't though," Katie replied. "Everything's fine. Plus, there's a lot of stuff."

"I probably would have kept two or three of us behind just in case," Xavier remarked. "Just because Bill needs some of this crap doesn't mean that we have to put the region at risk."

"Yeah, but it's not up to you," the red ranger replied, her voice taking on a frosty overtone. "So..."

"Wow," Luke commented. "This could not get more awkward."

"Anyway," Katie said, pushing the doors to the bridge open. Where Bill, Lance and Paige looked over in anticipation, as the six of them deposited the bags on the table. "We got the stuff."

"Great," Bill remarked. "I need these things. Few minor repairs around the place and..."

"I think most of the sleeping areas are in pretty bad condition," Ryan remarked. "I tried to sleep last night, and I could hear the wind coming through my port hole."

As both Duo and Luke snickered, Nahir rolled her eyes at them.

"Yeah, because they don't have windows on them," she said. "That's why."

"I got around it," Luke remarked. "I just moved my chest of drawers in front of it. All with the power of my mind."

"I guess that some of the stuff in the rooms are a little..." Bill started to say, rubbing the back of his head. "A little worn and old. Which is why I had you pick up some boards and nails."

"I might just get a plant to cover it," Ryan commented. "Sounds like less hard work."

"Anyway," Katie said. "I'm heading downstairs to the target range. Need to get sharper with the Heat Blasters. I'm still getting used to them, so..."

As she walked out of the room, Xavier looked at some of the items in the bags that they had picked up from Eon City.

"What else is it that you need these for?" he wondered. "I mean, this place isn't in that much of a bad condition. Some of the rooms are a bit dodgy, but the majority aren't."

"Oh, then I'll just switch," Ryan said. "Screw manual labour."

"Since you ask," Bill replied. "I'm working on a machine that might be able to bring Paige back to her previous glory."

"Really?" the ghost asked. "Because that would be awesome. Can you really do that?"

"Of course," Bill said. "All I need is to defy most of the laws of physics and it'll be a piece of cake."

"Nice to see you're optimistic," Duo commented. "What's next, a time machine?"

"Maybe."

* * *

Feeling the rush of heat soar over him, Xavier began to approach the red ranger. Watching her fire at several targets across the range, most of her shots finding the targets up ahead.

"How's it going?" he asked, seeing her concentration barely waver as he spoke. "Guess you've remembered most of the target practice they made us do at SDI."

"You practice so much for so long, it becomes part of you," she replied. "Not really something you can lose over six months. Six years maybe. Six decades, definitely."

"True," he replied. "So, I'm just wanting to check this out. How you doing? Since you were appointed leader by Clarence? No stress, pressure, worry, etcetera?"

"Are you kidding?" she asked, downing another target. "This rocks."

"Glad you're enjoying leadership so much," Xavier remarked. "I mean... You haven't had to put up with Luke and Nahir sniping at each other like I did."

"Ah, they're only trying to ignore how much they like each other," Katie said. "Trust me, that's exactly what they're doing."

"What's your base for that theory?" the blue ranger wondered.

"Feminine intuition," she replied. "It's a gift."

"Well," he said. "Don't tell him I told you this, but several months ago, Luke came into the sleeping quarters in the Aquabase and confessed that he was in love with Nahir."

"Really?" she asked, only slightly surprised. "Well... I knew it."

"Feminine intuition again?"

"You got it," she replied. "Why are you really down here? You can't have just wanted to gossip about Luke and Nahir."

"Errr... I wanted to get away from Bill," Xavier replied. "He's claiming that he can re-solidify Paige again. All he has to do are break most of the laws of physics."

"That's ambitious," she said. "I suppose he's already kind of done it with the Hover Chasers though."

"Hovering fifty feet above the ground in a glorified flying saucer while moving eight hundred miles an hour is a bit different to what he has planned," Xavier pointed out. "Scratch that, a lot."

"So, why are you telling me this," she wondered, squeezing several final shots into the last set of targets, watching them go down. "I'm sure that Bill would have let me know in his own time."

"Well, I was trying to get away from the action," Xavier replied. "Bill's making boasts, and Luke and Duo are trying to ridicule him."

"Why am I not surprised," she said, rolling her eyes. "See, you didn't have to deal with Duo."

"I might have done though," he replied. "Remember when SDI tried to give him the gold ranger powers. That would have been incredibly awkward when he broke up with Danni."

* * *

Later in the day, with Bill trying to fix up his brand new machine, Katie looked around at her fellow rangers, ready to say what she had been thinking ever since her conversation with Xavier earlier.

"So, talking to Xavier earlier reminded me of something," she said. "I need to sort someone out as my second in command."

"Ooh ooh, pick me," Luke remarked, sarcastically waving his hand up in the air.

"Normally, in the past," she said. "We've gone by circumstances. I know Crane had Mitzi in that role in G-Force because at some point in the future, the other green ranger had filled that role. I was Xavier's second in command because of the numbers on our zords..."

"That seems strange," Lance commented. "And slightly irresponsible."

"It worked, didn't it?" Nahir asked.

"So, I've made an executive decision," she replied. "That it will be one of Xavier or Duo."

"But, which one?" Duo wondered. "I mean..."

"Well, you've both got the experience," Katie continued. "And I can't split you. So, you have to decide between the two of you as to who should get the role."

"You're joking, right?" Xavier asked, shocked. "Oh for the love of..."

"She did what?" Ryan asked. "She's forcing you to decide between yourselves as to who the second in command should be?"

"Is she insane?" Lance wondered. "That's... Reckless and irresponsible."

"Ah, it sort of makes sense," Nahir said. "I don't think you should write her off just yet. She probably knows what she's doing."

"And I'm still here," Katie replied, annoyed. "Honestly, I don't remember anyone questioning Xavier when he was in charge. Also, Paige, you can help me on this, did Duo ever question Crane?"

"Actually, he didn't," Paige offered, before Duo let out a harsh exclamation.

"I'm not the one complaining about your leadership, am I?" he asked, rolling his eyes. "I've got faith in you."

"Me too," Ryan said. "I was just a bit surprised as to what you had planned, but it doesn't mean I'm not backing you one hundred percent."

"Don't make me say something like that, but yeah," Luke offered.

"And I'm always ready to follow you," Nahir finished. "I believe in you and your ability to lead."

As they all turned as one to look at Xavier, the blue ranger shrugged his shoulders in distaste.

"Whatever," he replied, before turning to head to the door. "Keep at it."

Letting out a furious growl of anger, Katie instantly went after him. An expression of rage etched into her face.

"Man, he's going to get a verbal volley," Duo remarked. "Glad I'm not on the end of that."

* * *

"The Poké Rangers." Dennis mused. "What might be the best way to get rid of them? Suggestions, thoughts, comments?"

"Well," Fuller offered. "We could use the Genesis Book again. Only this time on them."

"We don't know who they are, moron," Noland muttered. "So, what would be the point."

"Also," Arbok remarked. "I have a theory that they would be able to resist the stuff. It wouldn't mutate them. Because their 'morphers' gave off a similar energy reading to that of the Genesis Book."

"When did you have a chance to measure that?" Jake wondered, narrowing his eyes at the scientist.

"I'm very sensitive to stuff like this," Arbok replied. "I can sense it."

"Yeah, right," Noland smirked. "Sensitive my ass."

"Other plans!" Dennis demanded. "Any more sensible ones?"

"What about another monster?" Jake asked. "How about that?"

"Well, we've got nothing else to go on," Dennis said. "So, let's see..."

As he looked around for a Pokémon to use the item on, a cell phone in Noland's pocket began to ring. The former Frontier Brain instantly answering it, he listened for a few seconds before hanging up.

"The other Coppinger Elites are on their way," he said. "Harley, Copper, Hawk, Mitchell and Jewels."

"Good, good," Dennis muttered, absentmindedly, spotting a male Nidoran wandering into the cave where they had taken up refuge for the moment. "That should do."

Striding over, he opened the book up, watching the grey smoke erupt out and mutate the Pokémon in front of him. It instantly rising up to the size and shape of a Nidoking. As the smoke cleared, they saw it in detail for the first time. It had the purple body and horn of a Nidoking, the head of a Nidoqueen and the arms and tail of a Rhyperior.

"Wow," Jake commented. "That looks..."

"I am Monarcrusher," the monster growled, narrowing its eyes at Dennis. "You have summoned me!"

"Correct," Dennis replied. "I need you to go out and destroy the Poké Rangers. Once you have torn them to pieces, then I want you to do the same to the region to find those artefact's."

"Sounds like fun," the monster replied, as Noland placed one of the black and silver Pokéballs on the monster's arm. "What you playing at, asshole?"

"Some help, if you need it," Noland said. "Contains a squad of Dogbots."

"I don't need any help to trash this place," the monster replied, before vanishing.

* * *

As the four rangers remaining on the bridge began their wait for Xavier and Katie to return, the alarms erupted out of the speaker system, alerting to them to the presence of an attack.

"Errr..." Bill said, looking over to the console. "Hate to break it to you, but there's some sort of Nido... Hybrid attacking Red Moon City."

"Sounds about right," Duo remarked, looking around at Ryan, Luke and Nahir. "Time to take the initiative. Let's go."

"Shouldn't we wait for Xavier and Katie?" Ryan wondered. "I mean..."

"Nah, we can take them," Duo said. "We're all experienced rangers. Apart from Ryan, but..."

"Hey, I can take what you guys can take," the green ranger replied. "I'm with you. Let's go. Who the heck is afraid of a Nido-vite?"

"A Nido-vite?" Nahir wondered. "What are you...? I don't want to know."

"Come on," Duo said, his morpher appearing. "Let's go."

The other three did the same, the black ranger opening his mouth to give the command.

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

Dropping down out of the Hover Chasers, the quadrant of rangers saw Monarcrusher firing Hyper Beams up at the surrounding area. Duo instantly going into the action, rushing forward with his Shadow Sabre.

"Come on, asshole," he shouted, slashing at the monster's back. Monarcrusher roaring in pain as he spun around to try and hit the black ranger with his fist. Duo stepping back, parrying the blows with the flat end of his blade. "Take it like a monster."

"I'll destroy you!" Monarcrusher bellowed, trying to hit him again. Duo again ducking back, striking out with his sword. The blows bouncing off the tough skin, Monarcrusher taking the moment to spin around and strike Duo with his tail. The blow throwing him back through the air.

"Let's get him!" Luke yelled, the other three running towards the attacking monster. All of them with their weapons out, ready to strike. First, Ryan and Nahir went in with the Fauna Hammer and the Storm Staff. Both attacks doing minimal damage to the monster, who smashed out at them with his tail. The strike throwing them both back, crashing against a wall. Smashing his fist into the ground, Monarcrusher watched the two fallen rangers become encased in stones. Within seconds, the stones solidified into shape, trapping Nahir and Ryan in pillars of stone.

"Holy crap!" Luke shouted, brandishing the Psycho Spear at Monarcrusher. "Did you see that?"

"Yeah," Duo replied, using his sword to climb up to his feet. "Guess we're going to have to..."

Cutting him off in the middle of his sentence, Monarcrusher again smashed his fist down into the ground. This time throwing out a sudden shock wave, throwing both the black and purple rangers to the ground in surprise. As they struggled to get up, the fist came down again, the stones encasing Luke and Duo in the same fashion as they had got Nahir and Ryan. Within moments, they were trapped, the monster laughing insanely at his own handiwork.

* * *

"Where the heck were you?" Lance demanded, as Katie and Xavier came out onto the bridge of the Silver Gyarados, just in time to see Luke and Duo become captured by the attack froom Monarcrusher. "There was an attack."

"Yeah, we heard," Katie replied. "So, what are we waiting for."

"Huh," Xavier commented, shaking his head at the video footage. "Wondered how long it'd take for some of us to get captured."

"That's not helping," Katie replied, trying to shrug off his comment. "We have to save them."

"Oh, now you want my help," the blue ranger said, nastily. "Funny how it's suddenly coming out right now."

"And the way that you're acting, can you blame me?" she demanded. "I'm just trying to feel my way into the roll. So, I'm getting stuff wrong. So, I'm not doing things the way you would have done. Because I'm not you! I'm doing things my own way now!"

"And look where it's got you," Xavier retorted. "Four members of the team captured. I've got to give you credit, that's a lot sooner than I expected."

"Xavier, that's enough!"

Looking around, the two of them saw Lance stood at the doorway. Watching them.

"You've got no business disrespecting your leader like that, you should be asham..."

"Back off, Lance," Katie said. "I don't need your help. Xavier, if you don't like the way that I'm doing this, then hand your morpher right over. You're free to leave."

"You know I can't do that," he replied. "Tied to my DNA. Nobody else will be able to use it."

"Then make yourself useful then," she snapped. "Honestly, I don't care. You know, this is the reason why I did it. Because I wanted to see the real you. How you'd react in a situation like this. Guess I got my answer. Now, get out of my way, I'm going to help the others."

"Yeah, that's it," he said, just as snappily. "Walk away. That's really going to solve everything."

"Probably more help than what you're going to provide," she said, before bringing up her morpher. "Genesis Overload!"

* * *

Still laughing at the four pillars of rock in front of him, each containing a trapped Genesis ranger, Monarcrusher thought that he could hear something. A thought that was quickly compounded as several red hot blasts of plasma energy struck him in the back. Spinning around on the spot, he saw the morphed red ranger charging towards him, the twin Heat Blasters in her hands. As she tore even closer to him, she leaped up from a running start, planting a flying kick into his stomach. A blow that barely fazed him, as he spun to try and nail her with his tail. Something that she ducked, punching him twice in the stomach. Grunting in pain, this attack having hurt slightly more, he swung out with his fist to try and blast her with a stream of rocks. Throwing herself to the side, she sent a snap kick into the same area, constantly targeting the same area with all her blows. Bruise marks appearing on the spot, giving her something to aim at.

"You think you can defeat me?" he roared, as another kick crashed into his stomach. This time his arm shooting out, grabbing the limb. As he swung her up into the air, she let out a yell of surprise as she hit the ground. Hard.

* * *

"You in here?" Bill asked, looking into the training room. Seeing Xavier whack a football against the wall several times, each time increasingly harder.

"You already know that I am," Xavier said, angrily. "What the hell do you want?"

"Xavier, can I just remind you that you're a guest on my home," the PokéManiac remarked. "So, at least try and show some..."

Quickly, the blue ranger remembered himself.

"Sorry, Bill," he said, stopping to control the ball with his foot. "Guess I'm still a bit annoyed."

"Good skill," Bill commented. "Heh, you could probably show a few of the Pokémon in the CSKA Cerulean team a few things. Every single year, they get thrashed by Inter Saffron in the derby. I really really dislike that Pikachu who coaches them. The Special One. Total piece of arrogant cr..."

"Bill, do you want something in particular?" Xavier asked, his patience going again. "Because..."

"Why are you here?" Bill interrupted. "Four of your friends are encased in big rocks. Katie's having her ass kicked on her own. You're a team. Or you were."

Instead of replying, Xavier let him continue.

"What's really eating you, Xavier?" Bill asked. "Because, it's a bit out of character for you to be..."

"Bill, how long have you known me?" Xavier wondered. "Because, don't even presume to judge..."

"You're right," he replied. "But, I'm willing to guess that only one of us has seen your SDI psych profile."

"So, you've been looking at that?" Xavier replied, only slightly angry with the confession. "Why?"

"Because, I'm curious at heart," Bill admitted. "You'll have to forgive me on that."

"Free country," Xavier said, kicking the ball back up. Heading it across to the wall, not able to generate much power onto it. Much to his anger. "I mean... I..."

"Does it really annoy you that Katie's now the leader of the team?" Bill asked. "Because..."

"It doesn't bother me," Xavier insisted. "Seriously, it doesn't. Why do people keep thinking that?"

"Maybe because you're acting like it," Bill offered. "What is it, if it's not that."

"It doesn't bother me that she's the leader," Xavier repeated. "It's just more the realisation that... that I might not be as valued any more. Back when I was the red ranger for SDI... I had a reason to keep on going. To be the best that I can be, to set an example to others. Now... Where do I go? What's my motivation?"

"Doing the right thing," Bill replied. "You might not feel valued, but you are appreciated. You ever think that because of all that, Katie might have had trouble deciding whether you or Duo is better suited to the role? She's seen the way that you performed as leader and knows that you'll give your all whether you're second in command or last. Which is why she did respect you. Whether or not she does now is another question. I think that you're going to have to walk a hard road to win back that trust and respect."

"Let me guess, you saw her profile as well," Xavier said. "And gleaned all of that from it."

"It's not what you know, it's what you do with it," Bill replied. "The question is, what are you going to do with it?"

Kicking the football up into his hands, Xavier tossed it over to the corner of the room. Turning to head for the door.

"I've got some redeeming to do," he said, softly. "Wish me luck."

* * *

As she hit the ground again, choking up some blood inside her helmet, Katie heard the laugh of Monarcrusher above her. Could see him getting ready to slam his fist into the ground, trapping her in stone...

Only for a figure to leap above her, hitting the monster in the impacted area of his stomach, Monarcrusher staggering back in pain. The next thing Katie knew, an unmorphed Xavier was helping her to her feet.

"I've been an asshole," he admitted. "But, I'm here now and ready to help."

"Then why are you out of your costume?" she asked, grinning slightly. "Or are you..."

Not hesitating, Xavier brought his morpher up.

"Genesis Overload!"

Transforming into his blue ranger costume, he held out a hand to summon the Tidal Trident. Levelling the weapon at the monster, he let loose a rip of laughter.

"You're going down!" he shouted, the weapon starting to glow with a blue wave of energy. Sweeping out with it, he saw that wave of blue energy strike out, throwing Monarcrusher up into the air, roaring in pain.

"Waterfall!" he shouted, for good effect as the monster hit the ground. "How does that feel?"

Yanking both Heat Blasters up out of their holsters, Katie levelled them at the fallen monster.

"You're going down," she said, seconds before the twin weapons began to glow with a shining white light. "Woah, what's going on here?"

As if to answer her question, images began to race through her head. Much in the same way that they had when the six of them had formed the Megazord for the first time, back on the Coppinger Aerial Platform. And finally, she knew what it was that she had to do.

"Oh, sweet," the red ranger exclaimed, looking at her two weapons. "From two to one."

Folding the hilt of one blaster up onto a level with the barrel, she combined it with the other blaster. Twisting it round, it quickly became apparent that an entire new weapon had been formed.

"What the heck is that?" Xavier wondered, looking at the new weapon in Katie's gloved hands.

"Flareon Battle Rifle," she replied, aiming the weapon at Monarcrusher. "You got any last words? Because you're quite literally about to go in front of a firing squad."

Pulling the trigger, she let out the battle cry as a massive fireball erupted from the barrel. Tearing through the air towards the monster.

"Flareon Fury!"

Travelling out through the air, the fireball transformed into a glowing red mystical Flareon, the fiery spirit growing by the second until it smashed against Monarcrusher. Instantly forcing him back, his body exploding into thousands of pieces.

"Oh yeah!" she shouted, as the rock shapes trapping the other rangers shattered. Letting them breath freely again.

"Thanks for that," Ryan gasped. "That was cramped."

"It might not be over yet," Duo warned, looking at the remains of Monarcrusher. For several seconds they waited. And nothing happened. After a minute, still nothing had happened.

"Guess we got off lucky this time," Nahir commented.

* * *

"This is the third time that they have now foiled our plans," Dennis said, his voice soft with anger at the irritance that they were causing him. "It is now time for a different plan."

"Oh hallelujah," Noland muttered, sarcastically. The prone figures at the feet of the Coppingers starting to groan and stir as they gradually began to awake from their Genesis Book induced coma.

"This different plan," Dennis continued, folding his arms. "Involves splitting up. Arbok and I will stay here. The rest of you join up and try to get the information to find what we need. These... nine artefact's. I want teams of two or three, scouring the region. That's the best way to go. If the rangers try to stop you, then find a way to destroy them."

"But, if you're keeping the Genesis Book, then how...?" Arbok started to ask, before getting a dark look from his leader.

"You don't need to worry about that," he said. "You're sticking with me. The rest of you will have to find your own way to go about it."

"On brilliant," Jake commented, sarcastically. "Nice to know that..."

"Go! Now!"

* * *

"Hey, Katie."

Looking up from where she was doing laps of the pool, the current red ranger saw the previous red ranger walk over to her, kneeling down next to her to look her in the eyes.

"What's up?" she asked, pausing to hold Xavier's gaze. "What do you want?"

"I... I just want to apologise for the way that I acted," he said. "It was out of order the way that I behaved."

"I know," she replied, spikily. "But, I suppose that it's a bit strange for you. Going from leader to not even second in command. Maybe I should have thought about that a bit more..."

"I think you should have Duo as your second in command," Xavier admitted. "Despite all his... I'm going to be polite and say tendencies... He does have a lot of experience. He's been a ranger longer than any of us here. So..."

"That's big of you," she commented. "But, I just want you to know. I do value your opinion. Anytime you've got something to say about the mission, pipe up. I'll listen. Intently."

Holding up one of her hands, Katie shot him a smile.

"Friends again?" she asked, the grin growing by the second. Especially as Xavier reached out and shook it...

Only for her to yank him down into the pool, the blue ranger gasping for breath as he crashed under the surface of the water.

"That's your informal warning," Katie said, still smiling as he surfaced. "Don't ever try and undermine me again."

Still choking slightly from the sudden shock of the water, Xavier could only nod as he watched her climb out of the pool and offer him a hand up out of it.

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Whew. Got to say, I enjoyed writing the conflict between Katie and Xavier in this chapter. Because, I think Xavier would realistically have some hangups about his situation.**

**Admit it, you saw it coming. Xavier getting yanked into the pool.**

**Thanks for the reviews. All appreciated completely.**

**Yeah, so it's going on strong. Next several chapters will be more in the same vein, the hunt for the oft-mentioned artefact's starting slowly. Always a problem when you don't know where to start looking.**

**Anyway, the next one is entitled Who, Me. Preview below and it should be up soon.**

**Errr... Thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review. I think Katie will be replying to them today. Okay!**

* * *

**Chapter Four, Who, Me, preview.**

**Ryan: I just... You guys have this great ranger prestige. What have I got?**

**Nahir: That's not your fault.**

**?: Hmmm... The green ranger feels doubt. How can we exploit this?**

**Fuller: I found these stones. They feel strange.**

**Xavier: This thing's getting stronger by the second.**

**Bill: It's feeding off your doubt. Only you can beat it.**

**Ryan: You and me! Let's do this!**

* * *

**Coming soon.**


	4. Who, Me?

Chapter Four. Who, Me?

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As Bill asked them to run an errand in Eon City, the six rangers headed over there for some new equipment. Getting new clothes in the process, before Katie and Nahir played a joke on Duo. As they went back to the Silver Gyarados, Xavier began to pick arguments with Katie over little things, the whole thing eventually coming to a head when Katie revealed she had to decide between Xavier and Duo as to the role of second in command. As Xavier went into a mood, the red ranger tried to talk him out of it, just as the Coppingers sent their new monster, Monarcrusher to attack. As Duo, Nahir, Luke and Ryan tried to stop him, they were trapped. As Katie and Xavier continued their argument, Katie broke it off to try and help them. It took some words of advice from Bill to bring Xavier around, prompting him to go and help Katie against Monarcrusher. Putting her twin Heat Blasters together, Katie formed the Flareon Battle Rifle and destroyed Monarcrusher. Dennis then splitting the Coppingers up to form several different groups in their task, while Xavier apologised to Katie again. Getting yanked into the pool for his trouble..._

* * *

"So..."

"So what?" Katie asked, looking over to the end of the dining table where Bill was jittering up and down. Looking to be on the edge of asking a question.

"So... There's just so much that I want to ask you," the PokéManiac said, looking around at the rangers. "I mean... Are your new powers better than the old ones?"  
"I don't know," Nahir replied. "I don't notice any difference with the colour now. Costume feels more or less the same."

"I'll agree with that," Katie said. "I think all ranger costumes must feel the same. Because when I wore the red SDI suit, it felt the same as the blue one. More or less."

"Can't comment on that," Xavier remarked. "For obvious reasons."

"Given my only experience with the SDI suits was being thrown across the room as I tried to morph into one," Duo said. "I think I'm going to pass on saying how they were."

"The G-Force suits were pretty cool though," Paige commented, from the edge of the room. "Ah, I can remember how it felt against my skin. When I had skin."

"I'm working as fast as I can," Bill said. "This is a task most tricky. If I get it wrong, I could destroy half of Verger, or create a temporal rift that plunges it into some sort of zone. Something lost. A lost zone, if you like."

"Mmm-hmm," Paige said. "Well, in your own time."

"Paige, he can only work so fast," Katie pointed out. "Making sarcastic comments at the back of the room isn't going to speed it up at all."

"My favourite memories of when I was with G-Force," Duo remarked. "And that time I met Katie. That's..."

"Eep," the red ranger replied, making a face at the memory. "I remember that."

"I'd be surprised if you didn't," Paige commented. "Magmagrowth. I can remember when we did him with the G-Force Megazord."

"All because I did some charity work," Katie said, shaking her head. Noticing Ryan down at the other end of the table, picking at his food. A sad look on his face. "Ryan?"

Looking up, trying to hide the previous look that had been on his face, the green ranger raised an eyebrow to acknowledge her.

"What's up?" she asked. "You seem a little..."

"Nah, it's nothing," he replied. "I'm fine. Just..."

"Just what?" Luke wondered. "What are you feeling insecure about?"

"That's a great way to ask someone their problems," Nahir commented. "Very sensitive."

"You want sensitivity, catch a Chansey," Luke replied. "So, what's the problem?"

"I just..." Ryan began. "You guys have this great ranger prestige? What have I got? Far side of nothing. I'm basically a glorified rookie."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph on the Coppinger Aerial Platform. Dogbots attack, and lose the fight._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The former rangers wave at the camera, before fading away._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"Well, that's not really something that you can do anything about right now," Duo said, slowly. "It's more a case of..."

"That's not your fault," Nahir remarked. "I mean..."

"Everyone has to start somewhere," Xavier offered. "None of us started off great. We had to work at it, until we got that experience."

"It's a long drawn out experience," Katie said. "And it won't be an easy one. But, if you've got the stomach for it, then it'll be all worth it in the end."

"If you say so," Ryan muttered, still not completely buying what they were saying.

* * *

Staggering into the old abandoned swimming pool, Fuller looked across at her companion, at the fool that she had inadvertently been teamed up with. She had never really known or cared much for Malcolm Copper, a sense that hadn't softened as she looked at the figure Copper had become. A blond haired figure, the hair looking strange above the massive Donphan head that he now had on his shoulders. His body being that of a Blaziken.

"What are we doing here?" he demanded. "What have you got to show me?"

"These," Fuller replied, reaching down into a puddle. Pulling out a small brown bag of stones, something that she held up to the light. "I found these stones. They feel strange."

"What are they?" Copper demanded. "Stop messing me around and tell me."

"Errr... I don't know," she admitted. "But, they... Huh?"

Looking down into the small bag, she saw that one of the small grey stones was glowing with a bright green energy.

"That's not right," she said, plucking it up out of the bag and throwing it to the ground. "What the heck is..."

As the stone hit the ground, it shattered into several pieces. A strange white sprite erupting out of it, landing on the ground in front of them before taking form...

* * *

Slamming his foot out into the bag in front of him, Ryan tried to ignore the impact running up his leg. Instead intent on striking out again, determined to...

"What are you doing?"

... Missing the bag, he spun around and crashed to the ground in surprise. Looking up to see Luke leaning against the wall of the room, watching him with a smirk on his face.

"Graceful," he commented. "That'll put the fear of Arceus into everything that we face."

"What do you want?" Ryan wondered, getting back up to his feet. Wincing slightly in pain from the way he had landed. "Why are you...?"

"You still beating yourself up?" Luke wondered, as the current green ranger began to stare the bag down again. Getting ready to strike it again, a determined look on his face. "That's not healthy. We're a team, Ryan. Each of us bringing our own skills to the table."

"Uh huh," Ryan replied, already in motion to kick it. "Some reason why you're telling me this."

"What do you...?"

"Why YOU are telling me this," Ryan repeated. "Doesn't seem like your thing."

"Ah, Katie asked me to have a word with you," Luke said. "Something about a green ranger collective mind thing. I told her that green rangers aren't like Spinarak, but she just started laughing and..."

"Thanks, I'm not really consoled," Ryan replied, taking another swing at the bag. The heavy item swinging back out, away from him, the tip of his foot catching it. "What the hell?"  
As the bag swung back, he brought a hand up to steady it. Only for it to jerk away from him, a snicker of laughter echoing out from Luke behind him.

"Oh, real mature," Ryan said, glaring around at the purple ranger. "I take it you're doing that."

"Doing what?" Luke asked, innocently. Something that Ryan didn't believe at all for a moment, as he turned to kick the bag for one final time. This time the moving bag crashing forward, knocking him onto his back. Looking over at the purple ranger, he saw Luke walk out of the room, laughing his head off.

Rolling his eyes, Ryan took his morpher off his wrist and picked up his iPod. Putting the headphones into his ears, he cranked the volume to the max and turned his attention back to the heavy bag in front of him.

* * *

Looking at the figure in front of them, both Copper and Fuller could only gasp in surprise at what had happened. Stood before them, was a giant Kangaskhan shaped monster, with the colours and head of a Girafarig. Scratching her stomach with a giant clawed hand.

"Interesting," Copper remarked, narrowing his eyes at the creature. "What are you?"

"One of the holders of a Genesis Stone is feeling strong emotions," the monster replied. "Those stones are our prison. Created by a malicious warlock several millenia ago, we were held in them to exploit a situation like this. When the situation arose, we would be released. The Leafeon Warrior is struggling with the confidence of his own ability. Or rather, as he feels, the lack of it."

"Hmmm..." Copper mused. "The green ranger feels doubt. How can we exploit this?"

"As he doubts himself more and more," she continued. "I grow stronger. For I am Rigaroo. With this power..."

"We're looking for the artefact's," Fuller said. "The ones that complete the Genesis Book."

"Oh, I can find them," Rigaroo replied. "I know where one is. I'll head over there right now."

"Excellent!" Copper exclaimed. "This is a great start!"

"Are you sure that you can find it?" Fuller demanded. "Because..."

"Don't worry your mutated little head," Rigaroo said, slightly condescendingly. "With the green ranger's doubt filling me, I will find it in no time."

Letting out some slightly demented laughter, she quickly teleported away.

"Well, we're in luck," Copper said. "How about that?"

* * *

Less than thirty seconds later, the alarms on the bridge of the Silver Gyarados began to erupt into life. Everyone present standing up straight, five rangers all ready to see what was happening as Bill looked over to the consoles.

"We've got... a Kangaskhan monster attacking a quarry just outside Holimar City," he reported. "So..."

"Let's go and put her down before someone gets hurt then," Katie said, looking around. "Where the heck is Ryan?"

"Ryan's not here?" Duo asked, looking around the room. "Oh yeah, he's not."

"Last time I saw him, he was in the training room," Luke offered. "Kicking hell out of the heavy bag."

"We'll go ahead then," Xavier remarked. "Haven't got time to wait for him. Tell him to catch us up."

"I can hail him right now," Bill said, walking over to the microphone. "Ryan Leopard to the bridge, right now. Ryan Leopard to the bridge, right now!"

When nothing happened, Katie stepped forward. Bringing her morpher up.

"We don't have time to wait," she said. "Let's do it. Genesis Overload!"

As the five of them morphed, they began to head off the bridge towards the Hover Chasers.

* * *

"Ryan Leopard! To the bridge! Right now!"

Not hearing the sound of his name being called over the intercom system, due to the music in his ears, Ryan continued to hit the bag. Viciously taking out all of his stress onto the inanimate object, the green ranger not noticing the almost invisible waves of white energy that were passing off his body and vanishing into the atmosphere.

* * *

Feeling the taste of doubt race across her skin, Rigaroo couldn't help but shiver with excitement. She could feel the power ripping across her, almost a drug in its own way. Reaching out with her foot, she scraped at the stony earth, pushing it quickly aside. Her target just below the surface, close enough for her to reach out and touch...

... Only for the blasts of laser fire to crash out, raking against her back. Spinning around in outraged shock... Who dared to attack her... she saw something that made her smirk. Charging towards her, the black, blue, purple and yellow rangers wielding their Genesis Blasters, Katie using both Heat Blasters. The series of attacks enough to force her back away from the hole.

"Okay, moron!" Duo shouted. "Back off back to where you came from."

"It's probably a hole," Luke suggested. "That's what she's trying to dig."

"You're funny," she said, holding out her arms. More waves of doubt, sucked from Ryan's connection to his Genesis Stone passing into her. "Let's find out how big your sense of humour is."

"She should have asked you," Xavier muttered, looking at Duo. "You'd have had an answer."

"What's she doing?" Nahir wondered, seeing the waves of energy pass across Rigaroo's skin. The sheen almost enough to blind the rangers in the sunlight above them.

"If you can land a hit on me," she taunted. "Maybe I'll tell you."

"That's good enough for me," Katie said, bringing both Heat Blasters back up. Firing several times at the monster in front of them, they watched her dodge every single attack. Deflecting the final shot up into the air with her tail.

"Well, that's impressive," Duo commented, as he and Xavier brought out their Shadow Sabre and Tidal Trident respectively. Going in to attack, their strikes were easily blocked by the tail and fists of the monster. As they tried to go back on the attack, Rigaroo hit Duo with a Comet Punch, the strike throwing him back through the air. Sending him crashing against the wall of the quarry, groaning in pain. Behind the snorting Rigaroo, Xavier struck out with his Trident, the weapon bouncing off her armoured back. Seconds later, her tail came up to strike him in the stomach, the force of the attack sending him spinning back through the air. As he hit the ground, Rigaroo held her arms out up into the air, summoning more of Ryan's stolen doubt into her system. Next, Luke and Nahir flung themselves forward, bringing their weapons up to bear in attack. The purple ranger striking out with his Psycho Spear, the point bouncing up and away from her skin, Rigaroo hitting him with a Mega Punch to the stomach. As he flew back through the air, Nahir brought the Storm Staff up and cracked the end into the face of the monster. Aiming for the eyes, seeing the zap of electricity go towards the supposedly weaker area...

Only for Rigaroo to let out a startled scream of outraged agony, her hands snapping to grab the weapon. Swinging it around, Nahir didn't let go in time, the monster letting go before she could. In no time at all, she was thrown up into the air, crashing into the other wall of the cliff.

"No challenge at all," she smirked, rolling her eyes. "What a disappointment!"

"Hey!"

Looking around, she saw Katie stood behind her. Combining the two Heat Blasters into the Flareon Battle Rifle. Levelling the weapon down, pointing it the monster, she let out a smirk under her helmet.

"Any last words?" the red ranger demanded. "Because, I've got two for you. Flareon Fury!"7

At the command, she pulled the trigger to unleash the powerful stream of fire through the air towards Rigaroo. The mystical spirit of the Flareon erupting into view, growing ever larger as it closed in on the monster...

Only for Rigaroo to grab it in both hands, forcing it back away from her and back towards Katie. Throwing herself aside, the red ranger looked up to see the ball of fire smash into the wall of the quarry behind her.

"Woah!" she yelled, quickly dodging some falling rocks. "What's with her?"

Across from her, Xavier had thrown himself back into the action. Striking out with the Tidal Trident, she quickly spun out and grabbed him by the throat. Easily pulling him up off his feet.

"This thing's getting stronger by the second," Xavier yelled, Rigaroo smashing him into the ground with a powerful strike. The blue ranger shouting out in pain, as she tried to stomp him further into the ground.

"You're right," she said, sweetly. "And as long as the other keeps doubting himself... You can't beat me. I'll just grow stronger and stronger!"

* * *

"What's going on?" Ryan asked, running into the bridge. He'd finally heard the hailing over the intercom, having got up as quickly as possible. "Is there a monster on the..."

"You having problems, Ryan?" Lance asked, looking over at the green ranger. Bill craning his head around from where he was peeling his eyes over the battle footage.

"Why, what makes you think that?" he replied, slightly warily. "I mean..."

"Yeah, there's a monster," Lance said, rolling his eyes. "And... What's the best way that I can put this?"

"It's feeding off your doubt," Bill said, looking at the footage. "Only you can beat it. You have to overcome everything negative that you feel about yourself."

"I don't know..." Ryan replied, slowly. "What if I can't?"

"You won't with that attitude," Lance pointed out. "You're right. You don't have all this past experience that the others have. That's not something that you can do anything about. Get out there, help them out and you go a long way towards amending that. You'll write the first page of your own brand new piece of history."

Pausing for breath, he looked over at the green ranger, his eyes narrowing at him.

"So, what are you going to do?"

Shaking his head, Ryan straightened up and began to run towards the deck. Bringing his morpher up as he did so.

"Genesis Overload!" he shouted, transforming into his costume.

"You think he needed to hear that?" Bill wondered, looking over at Lance with a grin. "Because, good job."

"I do have my ways of motivating people."

* * *

Dropping down to the ground, Duo felt Rigaroo hit him with a Mega Kick. The powerful strike throwing him back through the air, crunching him once more against one of the walls of the quarry surrounding them.

"Oh, look at you all," Rigaroo said, her voice soft with malice. "So badly hurt. Just makes me want to eat you all up. Quite literally. I'm starving."

Struggling to get to their feet, the rangers watched the monster approach them. A demonic grin upon her face...

... Only for a burst of green light to flash across her, striking her in several places. As she staggered back, she saw the green ranger appear in front of her.

"You and me!" Ryan yelled, lowering his Fauna Hammer. Ready to taunt Rigaroo. "Let's do this."

"Ah, my benefactor," she snickered. "Pleasure to meet you. Pity I have to..."

Throwing her arm up, she tried to hurl a Psybeam at him. Only for the attack to fizzle out half way before the green ranger.

"What the...?"

"You're out of juice," Ryan taunted. "I no longer doubt myself. I should have listened to my friends earlier and realised that they were right."

"You took your sweet time with that," Luke muttered, struggling up to his feet. "What took you so long."

"I shall rip you to pieces myself," Rigaroo retorted, snarling across the ground to attack. Ripping away at him with her claws, the green ranger flung himself back to evade the attack. Swinging out with his hammer, he felt the weapon crash against her body, the blow causing her to cry out in pain.

"You ain't so tough," the green ranger remarked, bringing the Fauna Hammer straight back up, this time to aim at her head. Only for her to dodge the attack, spinning to strike him with her tail. The blow throwing him back across the ground, instantly jumping back up to his feet.

"Come on!" she snarled. "I'll take you to eternity."

"Sorry, I'll pass," Ryan shot back, the end of his hammer glowing with a bright green energy. Leaping into the air, he brought it smashing down into the ground, the present area shaking under the force of the impact.

"Frenzy Plant!"

At the roar of the command, a tremendous crack appeared, a series of large thorny vines made of a bright green energy ripping on out of it. Impaling Rigaroo, the monster howling in pain as she dropped to one knee.

Pulling herself up, charging over to stand at the green ranger's side, Katie brought out her Flareon Battle Rifle. Aiming it at the monster, ready to put her down.

"Good work, Ryan," she said, smiling at him under her helmet. "Time to take out the trash! Flareon Fury!"

Travelling out through the air, the fireball transformed into a glowing red mystical Flareon, the fiery spirit growing by the second until it smashed against Rigaroo. The blast taking her out completely, several small pieces landing on the ground in front of them.

* * *

"Oh for crap's sake," Fuller hissed. "That's ridiculous. Now what are we going to do?"

As she finished speaking, the bag of stones began to glow with a bright white light. The same bright white light erupting up out of the item in question, shooting through the roof up into the air.

"Did you just see that?" Copper wondered. "That ain't natural."

"What is, in this situation?" she retorted, slightly viciously. "This isn't a normal situation."

* * *

As the rangers all finished celebrating, the light fell down through the air, hitting the remains of Rigaroo. Reanimating the monster, they could see her get back up and grow to a giant size.

"Now, I'm really going to feel your doubt!" she roared, bringing her foot up to try and crush the rangers.

"She really is a walking cliché," Luke commented. "Guess it's time to burst out the heavy artillery."

"Time to transform!" Ryan shouted, as the grass type symbol began to glow with a green light on his chest. As the same happened to the rangers behind him, their chest emblems glowing with their ranger colours. Before they grew, shifting into their giant Eevee forms.

"Overload Zords!" the green ranger continued. "Megazord formation!"

At the command, the six Eevolutions transformed into robots, the rangers appearing in the cockpits. Then, they began to transform. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbsand tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. As the Megazord stood up straight, it stretched out its arms.

"I can still feel the doubt in your mind," Rigaroo taunted, striding in to hit the Overload Megazord with a Comet Punch. The machine taking the attack in its stride, the powerful punches bouncing off the metal body, scraping against the skin.

"Oh come on!" Luke said. "You want to see a punch? Psycho Punch!"

At his command, the Espeon arm rose up, glowing with a bright purple energy. Smashing against Rigaroo, the blow forced the monster back.

"What do you fancy for the Genesis Blaster?" Xavier wondered, the side compartment of the Vaporeon leg opening up to reveal the weapon in question. Roaring in response, Rigaroo unleashed a Hyper Beam towards the Megazord, the blast knocking it over. Heavy burn damage appearing across the body where the blast had struck.

"I think Solar Beam," Ryan said. "Either that, or Dark Pulse."

"Go Solar Beam for power," Katie suggested. "That's..."

"I'm not even sure how much psychic there is in there," Duo remarked. "So, go for it."

"Genesis Blaster!" Ryan yelled. "Solar Beam power!"

Reaching down to the blaster, the Overload Megazord brought it up to shoot at Rigaroo. The white hot blast screaming out, hitting the huge monster in the face. A terrible howl of fury ripping from her jaws as she staggered back, temporarily blinded by the attack. Holding up its hand, the Genesis Staff appeared in view. Taking the opportunity to attack, the twin slashes came up, forcing her back.

"Time to dispense with the doubt," Ryan quipped. "You're going down! Element Overload!"

At his command, the blade at the end of the staff began to glow with a furious wave of energy. The machine sweeping forward, striking again at the monster. Hitting it once, twice, three, four, five six times, throwing her back through the air. Upon hitting the ground, she exploded into thousands of pieces, Ryan letting out a huge sigh of relief.

"Well, that's over," he said. "I am so sorry that I let you down, guys."

"Hey, you didn't let us down," Nahir offered. "Just..."  
"Don't do it again," Katie finished. "I'm comfortable with never mentioning it again."

"Anyone else wondering where the Coppingers keep pulling these monsters from?" Luke asked. "It seems very suspicious."

"I guess we'll find out at some point," Duo commented, before the consoles in front of each ranger began to bleep repeatedly. "What the... Is that the..."

"It's the scanner," Katie replied. "We're picking up something."

"It's coming from the quarry," Xavier remarked, looking down to the area where they had fought Rigaroo earlier. "She must have dislodged something."

"Well, let's get down there and see what we can find," Katie said, getting up out of her seat. "This could be a break."

* * *

Looking over to the hole in the ground where Rigaroo had been digging, the six rangers saw something sticking out of the turf. Something resembling a circular iron handle, the metal caked in rust. Without hesitating, Duo and Xavier dropped down the relatively small level, pulling the item up out of the ground. Revealing it to be a treasure chest.

"What the heck is that?" Katie wondered, as Xavier and Duo brought out the chest. The black ranger bringing out his sword and hacking at the lock, watching it snap from the rust. Instantly pulling it open, the six of them could see a large scroll inside it.

"Well..." Ryan said. "I feel so much better. You think this is a clue?"

"What gives it away?" Nahir wondered, sarcastically. "Either that, or someone's having a laugh."

"Let's get it back to the Silver Gyarados," Katie said. "Look at it there. See if Bill can do anything with it."

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**So... A scroll...**

**Anyway, Ryan has his first storyline as a ranger and manages to do a decent job of it.**

**Ah, so what could the scroll be for? Only time will tell.**

**Next episode is entitled The Tests. Preview below.**

**Thanks for the reviews. They are all appreciated completely.**

**In the final thoughts, it must be hard for Ryan being the new guy of the fic. But, it'll all get better in time. Probably.**

**Okay, so thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Please!. And... Fuller will reply to reviews today.**

* * *

**Chapter Five, The Tests, preview.**

**Noland: Let's see exactly what these rangers are capable of.**

**Katie: Overload Megazord!**

**Xavier: Man, that's four robots in one day. What's going on?**

**Luke: There's a signal coming from the warehouse district in Holimar City.**

**Lance: You going to check it out.**

**Luke: Maybe.**

**Nahir: We need your help!**

**Noland: Tick tock, purple ranger.**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	5. The Tests

Chapter Five. The Tests.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_Noland, a former Brain of the Kanto Battle Frontier was revealed to be part of the Coppingers. Having built most of their machines, including the Dogbots and the Garbot. Like the rest of the bad guys, he was mutated and cast aside by Dennis. Meanwhile, as he heard the other rangers talk about their adventures, Ryan started to doubt his ability as a ranger. Taking up extreme training, he began to try and better himself. Meanwhile, Copper and Fuller found a bag of strange stones, summoning a monster that was able to feed off Ryan's doubt. While training, Ryan failed to hear the call to action, the other rangers easily being beaten by Rigaroo. With some encouraging words from Lance, Ryan went down and managed to fight and defeat Rigaroo. Finding a strange scroll after the battle..._

* * *

"There it is!" Katie shouted, the six rangers looking up to the sky. Seeing a huge robotic Machamp attacking the streets of Sycamore City. "Another robot!"

"Anyone else thinking of Garbot?" Xavier wondered. "I really hated that thing."

"Think we all did," Nahir commented. "So... Megazord time?"

"Just about, I reckon," Katie said, as the six of them transformed into the forms of the Eevolutions. "Overload Zords! Megazord formation!"

At the command, the six Zords began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbsand tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. As the Megazord stood up straight, it stretched out its arms.

"Let's quickly take this thing out and go home," Katie said. "Luke, would you like to do the honours?"

"Because of it being a fighting type?" the purple ranger asked. "That better be what this is."

Feeling the Megazord stride forward, homing in on the attacking Machamp robot, Luke gave a command out.  
"Psycho Punch!" he shouted, hitting a button in front of him. The Overload Megazord's arm glowing with a bright purple energy, before shooting forward and hitting the unsuspecting robot. Rounding on them quickly, the Champbot hit them with a Cross Chop, their own attack having done seemingly little more than annoying it.

"Oh terrific," Duo muttered, as the giant machine hit the ground. "What next? Tickle it with a feather?"

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph on the Coppinger Aerial Platform. Dogbots attack, and lose the fight._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The former rangers wave at the camera, before fading away._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"Come on!" Xavier yelled, as Champbot reached down to pick the Overload Megazord up by the head, letting out several manufactured mechanical snorts as it did so. "We have to..."

"Think it might be time for the Genesis Blaster," Katie muttered. "If at first you don't succeed, try a Psybeam"

Right away, the Overload Megazord brought up the weapon, firing a bright purple beam of psychic energy towards Champbot. The blast blowing several pieces off the the machine, sparks shooting up from the Machamp based robot.

"Genesis Staff!" Katie yelled. "Element Overload!"

Bringing the weapon up, the six rangers watched the blade at the end glow with a bright light. Sweeping it forward, they saw it strike against Champbot six times, the final blast destroying it instantly. Several parts falling to the ground, everyone present in the cockpit breathing a sigh of relief.

"That was easy at least," Ryan said. "What were they trying to accomplish with that?"

* * *

"That was a random thing," Bill commented, as the rangers walked back onto the bridge of the Silver Gyarados. The PokéManiac looking at the scroll under a microscope, as he spoke, Lance nodding in silent agreement in the corner of the room. "What do the Coppingers have to gain by doing something like that? It was a completely pointless attack."

"Guess we'll find out sooner or later," Katie commented. "They might just be trying to be annoying."

"Don't think they have to try very hard," Nahir muttered, Luke smirking at the comment from the yellow ranger.

"Anyway, have you managed to find out anything from the scroll?" Duo asked, looking over to Bill. "Because..."

"You've asked me that twenty seven times in the last two days," the PokéManiac said, wearily. "And for the twenty eighth time..."

"That doesn't make sense," Xavier pointed out. "The maths is..."

"It's a hint not to ask me again," Bill replied, shaking his head. "Don't do it. This is an ancient piece of parchment. Some of it has faded. Some of it has dissolved. So..."

* * *

"So, what was the point of using the Champbot? It was easily destroyed."

"Correct," Noland replied, barely looking up from the console he was working at. Instead just listening to Frank Mitchell voice his concern. Now, the former technician resembling a giant Pinsir with the head helmet and arms of a Slowking. He also had the wings of a Skarmory. "It was."

"What was the point then?"

"Because in order to win a war, you have to know your enemy," the former Frontier Brain said. "What they'll do, what they'll try, how much they can handle. What their limits are... Do you get my point, yet?"

"I think so," Mitchell said. "But..."

"Let's see exactly what these rangers are capable of," Noland mused. "Set out another robot onto them."

"You're testing them?" Mitchell asked. "That's... Brilliant."

"Use several relatively minor robots to wear them down," Noland smirked, looking to the giant boxes across from them. "Then unleash a stronger one that will be too much for them. This plan cannot fail. Time to unleash Ringbot."

* * *

"Another robot!" Lance shouted, looking over to the screens in front of him as the alarms went out on the bridge. "We've got a huge Ursaring machine out on the attack."

"Oh terrific," Ryan said, glancing at the screen, his eyes almost subconsciously rolling from the sight. "Ursaring."

"Anyone got a fear of them?" Katie wondered. "Because..."

"Just Rapidash," Nahir remarked. "I'm fine with Ursaring."

"Crazy," Luke muttered. "One of them's more likely to do for you."

"That's the one that we're going to get," Duo quipped. "Let's go."

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

Spotting the Ringbot up ahead, Katie gave the command in the cockpit of the Overload Megazord.

"Let's finish this thing off quickly," she said, shaking her head. "Genesis Blaster!"

Bringing the weapon up into the air, the Ringbot spun around to see what was happening. Instantly snapping its jaws open, sending a Hyper Beam out towards the Megazord, the blast sending the machine toppling over from the force of the attack.

"Woah!" Xavier yelled. "Not this again."

"At some point," Luke commented. "We really need to get the stabilisers on this thing sorted out. Honestly, it's like the thing is perpetually drunk, the way it constantly falls over."

"We are being shot at," Nahir pointed out. "If the thing goes backwards, then it just proves that..."

"Is this really the best time to have this argument?" Ryan asked. "Let's just blast the thing and go home."

"Genesis Blaster!" Xavier said. "Let's fight fire with fire. Hyper Beam!"

Under his order, the bright orange beam of pure energy erupted out, smashing against the robot. Blowing a massive hole through the ring in its stomach, the clear sight of the city able to be seen through the wound. Almost going beserk with the injury, the Ringbot tore forward, slashing out several times against the metal body of the Overload Megazord. Sparks raising up from the indents left by the claws, the robot staggering back.

"That should give us some breathing space," Katie muttered. "Genesis Staff. Let's see how it likes it when we hit back."

As the weapon appeared, the red ranger directed the Megazord into striking Ringbot with the blade at the end. Working the wound in its stomach, the blows inadvertently hitting some vital wiring. As the Ringbot slumped over, the six rangers gave their finishing command.

"Element Overload!"

Right away, the weapon came up and down again. Striking out several more times, hitting the robot with waves of red, black, blue, purple, yellow and green energy. The blast finally finishing the Ringbot off, sending it crashing to the ground and exploding.

"Whew," said Duo. "That could have been nasty."

"When has dealing with Ursaring ever been easy?" Ryan asked. "They're particularly violent during hunting season. Not only are they a big scary Pokémon, but they also have a large target already on their chest."

"Boom boom," Xavier quipped.

* * *

"Is this when we unleash our master plan?" Mitchell asked, eagerly. "Because..."

"Nope," Noland replied, shaking his head to emphasise the point he was trying to make. "We're still going to go on for a bit longer. We still have a few more robots in storage until we unleash the big kahuna."

"The big kahuna," Mitchell said, his voice tinged with awe. "This is going to be sweet."

"Anyway, it's still charging up to its maximum," Noland said. "So, I think... We've got time for two more."

"Who you going to use next against them?"

"Scytherbot!" Noland called, looking at one of the crates on the screen in front of him. "Time to activate you."

At the command, the crate began to slide open. A huge clawed arm emerging out of the darkness inside...

* * *

"Okay, so I think I'm starting to make some headway with the scroll," Bill said, peering down at it. "It's just not in any known language that I can think of. So, the translating might take a little while longer."

"Oh for the love of..." Ryan complained. "We could be on our way to finding the first artifact right now. Don't you have... I don't know. A translator."

"Tell me what language it's in and I'll put it through," Bill shot back. "It's like nothing I've ever seen before."

"Calm down, Ryan," Katie said. "Yelling at him isn't going to help. If it was, we'd all do it."

Right on cue, the alarms began to sound out around them. All the rangers letting out groans of disgruntlement as they turned to the console.

"Holy crap," Luke groaned, as the giant robotic Scyther appeared on the screens of the consoles in front of them. "Not again."

"This is starting to get annoying," Duo commented, shaking his head. "How many more do you reckon that there are?"

"Who knows," Katie replied. "Genesis Overload!"

* * *

"At least this is a relatively easy Pokémon to defeat," Duo commented, as the Overload Megazord began to approach the robot in front of them. The Scytherbot hacking away at the buildings in front of it with its claws. The citizens of Holimar City screaming in fear as they began to run away from the two giant machines. "A Scyther in theory."

"Dude, have you ever battled a Scyther?" Ryan asked. "At a high level, they're an absolute nightmare. I mean... Jeez."

"You could say the same thing about any Pokémon, really," Xavier pointed out. "So..."

"Yeah, I'll battle strong Caterpie any day of the week," Ryan said. "Or... I don't know. Something not that good. Like Glameow..."

"HEY!" Nahir shouted. "Don't insult Glameow! I've got a Glameow! Ashei is my best friend. Best Pokémon friend. Only Pokémon friend."

"Anyone else suddenly feel really uncomfortable?" Luke wondered. "Besides, Glameow make great pets."

"Anyway..." Katie said. "Are we going to take this thing down or..."

"Pity we don't have any fire or ice attacks," Duo said. "That'd put a bug in the machine."

As everyone groaned at the lame joke, Nahir quickly stopped to let out an exclamation of joy.

"But..." she said. "We do have electricity. That'll clip its wings."

"Can everyone please just stop the puns?" Ryan groaned. "They're starting to bug me out."

Five sets of eyes instantly turned to focus on the green ranger, wondering if he had actually just been serious in what he had said.

"What?" Ryan asked. "What did I say?"

"Never mind," Luke said. "So, we going to bring out the bug zapper?"

"Oh for the love of..."

"Genesis Blaster!" Katie quickly yelled, the weapon being levelled at the Scyther robot. Her shout cutting Nahir off in her protest. "Charge Beam!"

Instantly, the bright yellow beam of sparkling electricity erupted out of the barrel of the weapon, crashing into Scytherbot's body. The blast throwing the machine to the ground, roaring in something that looked like pain as it began to short circuit.

"Maybe..." Ryan said, seconds before the Scytherbot fell backwards, crashing to the ground and exploding. "... It's super effective!"

"Well, that's made it easier," Katie commented. "Whew."

* * *

"Is it almost time for the big kahuna?" Mitchell eagerly asked, as the two of them watched the Scytherbot explode. "Because... That wasn't a very good one."

"Do you have any idea it is to mass produce these things?" Noland demanded. "There's bound to be some... product quality lowering at some point. Besides, all that matters is that we wear them down. There's no way that they can keep this up for much longer."

"One more robot?" Mitchell wondered, a smile emerging on the Pinsir face. "Because..."

"Well, I do have one more available," Noland said. "Let's let loose the Aggronbot."

"Aww, Aggron," Mitchell cheered. "Brilliant!"

* * *

"So... are any of you up for a quick training battle?" Ryan asked. "Just to see if..."

"Hey, Katie," Xavier remarked, something in the green ranger's voice igniting a thought in his mind. "You reckon that you could beat Lance in a battle?"

"I don't know..." the red ranger replied. "He's one of the best Pokémon trainers on the planet."

"Why thank you," Lance said, from the corner of the room. "That's... Flattering. And that'll get you everywhere."

"I could take you," Ryan muttered, rolling his eyes. "I'd do it right here, right..."

Again cutting the green ranger off, this time the alarms rang out. Everyone letting out a collective groan, as their attention turned over to the console screen. They were starting to get tired of doing that very action.

"Someone's having a laugh," Nahir moaned, as they saw the Aggronbot on the screen in front of them. "Come on!"

"Guess there's no rest for the wicked," Duo quipped. "Or us. Does that make us wicked?"

"Some people might say that," Luke remarked. "About you, anyway."

"Oh, ha ha," the black ranger replied. "That's so funny I forgot to laugh. Apart from that derisive ha ha there."

"Guys, not the time," Xavier said, as they brought their morphers out.

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

"This should be tougher than the Scytherbot," Xavier remarked. "Aggron are absolute monsters. Possibly even more than the Ringbot from earlier."

"They're not that much trouble," Katie said. "Just got to handle them right and they're like powdered metal in your hands."

"Interesting metaphor," Nahir mused. "Probably not a good one, but..."

Roaring in anger, the Aggronbot spotted them. Instantly charging, going on the rampage towards them, hitting them with all the grace of a falling piano. The Megazord instantly falling back to the ground, Luke letting out a snort.

"Stabilisers!" he shouted, as the Overload Megazord slowly began to stand back up. "All I ask for and..."

"You know what I'm thinking for this?" Duo commented. "I'm thinking that we up the pressure. Put him in the drink, so to speak."

"That's not a bad idea," Katie said. "We take many more of those body checks and we'll be scrap metal."

"That's bad," Ryan remarked. "What would that mean for the Zords, anyway? Since they're a part of us."

"I honestly don't want to know," Luke said. "But, I like the water idea."

Right on cue, the Overload Megazord brought the Genesis Blaster out of storage in the Vaporeon leg. Levelling it at the Aggronbot, who let out another roar. Seemingly unaware of the danger that faced it.

"Genesis Blaster!" Xavier shouted. "Hydro Pump!"

Pulling back the trigger, a powerful jet of water shot out through the air, punching against the chest of the Aggronbot. The machine letting out a mechanical roar, staggering back. In the next instance, the Genesis Staff appeared in the hand of the Megazord.

"Element Overload!"

For the third time, the blade at the end of the Genesis Staff began to glow. Slashing out six times, the Aggronbot took the full force of the attack and quickly fell to the ground. Exploding into thousands of pieces.

"Man," Xavier complained, leaning back in his chair. "That's four robots in one day. What's going on?"

"Could search me," Katie groaned. "For answers that is. Because I don't have any."

* * *

After the four battles in the space of five hours, most of the other rangers had gone down below deck to take some brief snatches of rest. However short it would eventually turn out to be. Leaving Luke and Lance on the bridge, holding out through awkward silences. The purple ranger monitoring the consoles, desperately looking for something.

"There's a signal coming from the warehouse district in Holimar City," Luke said, looking at the beeping signal on the monitor in front of him. "What do you reckon? Could it be something important."

"You going to check it out?" Lance asked. "If you feel that strongly about it."

"Maybe," Luke replied, reaching up to rub at his eyes. "Man, it's exhausting all that Megazord transforming."

"Looks it," Lance said, nodding sympathetically. "Oh well, if..."

"I wasn't saying that I'm not going," the purple ranger replied, heading for the door. "I'm checking it out."

"Good luck," the Dragon Master offered, as he watched Luke head over to the door. "Maybe you should get some Red Tauros at some point to try and recharge."

"Who needs wings," Luke shot back. "I've got my Hover Chaser."

* * *

Dropping to the concrete ground outside the warehouse, the purple ranger looked up to try and gain some sort of recognition of his surroundings. Wondering if he was in the right place, he didn't particularly want to go back and ask Lance for advice. Scanning the skyline up above his head, he spotted a satellite dish atop one of the roofs. With nothing else to go on, he began to head towards it. If a signal was being given off, then that was all he needed. It was about the only lead he had.

"Here goes nothing," he muttered, heading towards the door. Only to hear a screech rip out above the horizon, the purple ranger instantly throwing his eyes up into the air...

... And the giant figure of a robotic Articuno tore out through the air high above his head, the purple ranger's eyes widening in shock under his helmet.

"No way!" he muttered, looking over to the entrance. Now more convinced than ever he was in the right place, he began to head for the door. Kicking it open, rushing inside.

* * *

"You're not going to believe this," Lance commented, as the five remaining rangers ran out onto the bridge. The alarms having roused them up from their rest, several annoyed looks flashing out to the Dragon Master. "What?"

"I was just having a lovely dream," Duo quipped. "All about..."

"Yeah, we can guess," Katie said. "Since it's probably obvious."

"You an expert on dreams now?" the black ranger shot back. "You have no idea what goes on through my head."

"Do any of us want to know?" Nahir asked, reaching over to high five Katie. The red ranger returning the gesture.

"Where's Luke?" Xavier asked. "I'm sure that we left him up here."

"He had to go," Lance replied, looking at the sight of the giant robotic Articuno flying through Holimar City. Launching Ice Beam attacks at anything that moved. "We picked up a signal and he went to check it out."

"We can't form the Overload Megazord without him here," Ryan said, as Paige appeared in the room, entering through one of the walls. "So..."

"Where have you been?" Xavier wondered, looking over at the ghost. "We haven't seen you for the last..."

"I've been in the galley," she said, simply. "Walking through bottles of alcohol to see if I can get a buzz off them. Been a ghost is depressing, I tell you. Can't affect anything around me. It's all about trying new things."

"Right..." Katie remarked. "So, where do we go from here?"

"Well, you can't form the Megazord," Lance said. "But, you can transform into your Zords. You'll just have to hold the fort until we can get Luke over here. I can't get in touch with him here, something's blocking the signal of his communicator."

"This isn't going to be pleasant," Nahir commented. "Oh well..."

"For what seems like the thousandth time," Katie said, wearily. "Genesis Overload!"

* * *

Jumping off the Hover Chasers, the five of them heard the mechanical squawk of the Cunobot above them, having to leap aside to evade an Ice Beam thrown down at them. The frozen sheen racing across the ground, everyone of them letting out sighs of relief.

"I'm really really sick of robots right now," Duo commented. "Let's do the best we can until then. See if we can freeze it out."

"Do you come up with these intentionally?" Ryan wondered. "Because..."

"Whatever, it's time to transform," Katie said, as the five of them began to glow in brighter versions of their ranger colours. Growing to a giant size, transforming into their Eevolution forms. "Now, let's get down to business."

"I like that plan," Xavier commented, as the Cunobot began to notice them. Turning to attack, screeches erupting from its beak, the wings flared out. "Let's turn up the heat on the frozen bird."

"Just like Christmas," Duo quipped, as Nahir let out a groan.

"Next person who makes a terrible pun gets an electric shock," she said. "I mean it."

Even as she finished speaking, the Cunobot began to dive through the air towards them, ready to strike out with its full force.

"Here it comes, get ready!"

* * *

Stepping into the warehouse, Luke swore that he could hear voices somewhere in the large room. Followed by cheers and laughter, the sound of bottles being cracked open. Unless they were workers about to go off clock, then...

"Oh, what a miss!" a slightly familiar voice yelled, a tiny mechanical squawk ringing out between the crates. "Nearly nailed the thing."

"That Cunobot is awesome!" another voice exclaimed. This one slightly less familiar, as the purple ranger felt his way through to a better view. Seeing the two mutated Coppingers up ahead of him, both watching a giant robotic Articuno attacking...

"Oh no," he muttered, seeing it nail a large Vaporeon with a Peck attack. The Pokémon falling to the ground, an Umbreon jumping up over its body to try and land a Dark Pulse attack onto the robot.

"Wonder why they haven't formed the Megazord," the Pinsir mutant remarked. "Seems like... It's strange."

"They don't have the purple ranger with them," Noland replied, his eyes passing across to another screen on the console he was looking at. "He's not there."

"So, where is he?" Mitchell asked, suddenly sounding triumphant. "Did we tire him out?"

"Well, he could be just about anywhere," Noland replied, casually. "Of course, he could be right behind us."

Letting out a strangled yelp, Luke saw both of them turn and glance at him. A smug expression on Noland's face, Mitchell initially looking more fearful before it was replaced with arrogance.

"Welcome, Purple Ranger," Noland remarked. "Might want to check for cameras next time you try to sneak up on someone."

"Well, I'll keep it in mind," Luke replied. "Now, are you going to do us all a favour and surrender, or are you going to be a pain in the ass?"

"What are you going to do, honestly?" Noland shot back. "We know that you're alone. All your fellow rangers are currently facing my majestic Cunobot. And losing..."

"Well, I guess I'll just have to stop you myself then," the purple ranger retorted, taking a step towards them. The two Coppingers both tensing up for a split second, before Luke's communicator went off at his wrist. Nahir's voice ringing out through it.

"We need your help!" the yellow ranger screamed, loud and clear through the item on his wrist. Both Noland and Mitchell throwing sarcastic glances at Luke.

"Tick tock, Purple Ranger," Noland taunted. "Even as we speak, Cunobot is ready to decimate this city. Can you really go against your nature and stop us while that happens?"

"You obviously don't know what my nature is," Luke shot back. "But..."

Before he could finish speaking, Mitchell reached out to the wall next to him. Punching a huge red button upon the wall in question, the room instantly filling up with smoke. Instantly blinded by the huge rush of fog, Luke ran forward to try and get to the two Coppingers. Only to find himself completely lost in the haze.

"Crap!" he exclaimed, trying to sweep the mist away from him. An effort to find out where they had gone, the sound of a door slamming across from him confirming that they had maybe escaped. "And that's just annoying..."

* * *

"When is that moron going to get here?" Ryan snarled, jumping aside to evade an Ice Beam thrown at him. In Leafeon form, he had no particular desire to get frozen solid. The other rangers were all trying to attack, Katie firing a Flamethrower up into the sky, the streak of flames narrowly missing the ice type robot. Xavier and Duo fired out Water Gun and Dark Pulse attacks, respectively towards the machine, desperate to try and land hits on it. Nahir was chasing after it, using the Jolteon forms superior speed to keep pace with it. Yet, launching a Discharge attack up into the air, the Cunobot easily dodged it, soaring up into the air.

"I'm really starting to dislike robotic versions of legendary Pokémon," Duo muttered, the Umbreon jumping up to try and hit the Cunobot with a Faint Attack. The robot flying up further, just out of reach. Arrowing up even further in the sky, turning down to start to soar down towards the ground.

"It's going to divebomb us!" Katie yelled. "This might be time to hit it. Everyone fire attacks at it right now. While it's coming towards us!"

At her command, the five Eevolutions looked to the sky, firing fire, dark, water, electric and grass type attacks up into the air. The Cunobot easily accelerating past them, the sheen of pure white energy starting to race across the metallic feathers...

Only for it to crash into an invisible wall above them, a thick crunch ringing out as it started to slide to the ground, almost comedic in its appearance as it crashed to the ground.

"What the...?" Katie asked, only for an Espeon to leap onto the scene. Gracefully hurdling a moderate sized building, the rangers watched it land next to them, all five of them breathing sighs of relief.

"What took you so long?" Nahir wondered, the Jolteon closest to the Espeon. "Because..."

"You're welcome," the purple ranger replied, as the Cunobot slowly started to rise up off the ground. Several loud mechanical groans emerging from its crumpled beak, the machine doing its best to hurl a piercing gaze of anger at the six Eevolutions.

"I think we might have to take this up a level," Katie said. "Anyone disagree with that?"

"Overload Zords!" Luke shouted. "Megazord formation!"

Transforming into robots, the Overload Zords again began to shift into the form of the Overload Megazord.

* * *

"Alright," Katie said, as the Megazord straightened up, looking over at the rising Cunobot. "How are we going to handle this. Because if it takes flight..."

Almost as if it had heard her, the robotic Articuno flared out its wings, tearing out through the air towards them. The sudden impact strong enough to knock the Megazord over, easily. Luke not even bothering to make his prior comment as they hit the ground.

"Okay," Nahir said. "Since it worked so well on Scytherbot earlier, I'm thinking a Charge Beam."

"Well, that could work," Luke remarked. "We can always try it."

"I don't think..." Xavier began to say, before the purple ranger gave the command.

"Genesis Blaster! Charge Beam!"

Immediately, the weapon came up out of the 'holster' in the Vaporeon leg of the Megazord, firing out a blast of electricity towards the flying Cunobot easily dodging the blast.

"And that's why," the blue ranger said. "We couldn't hit it earlier, we're not going to do it by trying the same thing yet again."

"Well, I wasn't here," Luke shot back. "So..."

"Guys, not the time," Katie said, as the Cunobot came back around to attack, smashing its wings against the back of the Overload Megazord. The machine staggering, but not falling.

"So, any plans?" Duo wondered. "Because..."

"There has to be some way of doing this," Nahir said. "It's not unbeatable. If we can just hit it, then..."

"Hold on a second," Luke remarked, watching the mechanical bird up above them. "It's coming back around for another hit. There has to be some way that we can utilise this."

As if it had heard him, the Cunobot's beak opened up above them. A long stream of ice ripping out through the air, the attack striking the Megazord in the legs. Immediately freezing them in place, the machine unable to move.

"Crap," Duo said, whacking the console in front of him. "That's annoying."

"You're showing restraint," Katie commented. "Guess we need to go to plan B."

"Plan B?" Xavier wondered. "What the heck was Plan A?"

"Who cares," Luke said. "I've got an idea."

"Terrific," Nahir muttered. "We're all going to regret this. What have you got?"

"Whatever it is..." Ryan said, as the Cunobot began to charge up another Ice Beam attack to fire at them. "Might want to..."

"Genesis Staff!" Luke shouted. "Now!"

At the command, the weapon appeared in the hands of the Overload Megazord. The huge machine starting to spin it around under Luke's prompting, just as the Ice Beam launched out of the beak of the Cunobot.

Hitting the moving Genesis Staff, it instantly rebounded up through the air, the blast hitting the Cunobot straight back in the face. As it let out a startled squawk, the frozen wings became unable to keep the previous speed up. The robotic Articuno slowing down, Luke letting out a triumphant laugh at the sight.

"Deflected!" the purple ranger yelled. "Now, Genesis Blaster! Hyper Beam!"

Instantly bringing the weapon up, the bright orange beam roared out, crashing straight through the face of the Cunobot. As the processors within its head were destroyed, the rest of the body quickly gave out, hurtling down to the ground where it exploded into thousands of pieces.

"Who rules?" Luke smirked, looking around the cockpit. "Come on, don't all burst into applause at once."

"Okay, you did good," Katie pointed out. "Just don't let it go to your head."

"Yeah," Nahir commented. "With the size of that ego, it might not fit."

* * *

"Man," Luke yawned, the six of them climbing out of their Hover Chasers, demorphing from their costumes as Bill came down to greet them. "I'm exhausted after all that. Who'd have thought that the transformation into a giant Espeon would be so exhausting."

Much to the amusement of the PokéManiac who had completed his approach and was now grinning at them.

"Good news," he said. "I figured out the language on the scroll. I even wrote a computer program to translate it into a language we can understand. In the next three to four hours, we should know what to do next."

"Great," Katie said, her hand stifling a yawn. "We'll check it out at some point. Need sleep."

"Well, at least there probably aren't going to be any more robots in that fashion," Ryan pointed out. "So, that's a relief."

"Amen to that," Nahir muttered, as they began to head for their sleeping quarters.

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**So... Another minor crisis averted.**

**Well, you can't complain about the action in this episode. Enough Megazord battles for a month.**

**Anyway, thanks for the reviews. Honestly all appreciated.**

**Alright, the next one is From The Shadows. Should be up in the next few days. As usual the preview is below.**

**Not much else here, so...**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Please! Noland will be replying to reviews for this chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter Six, From The Shadows, preview.**

**Duo: That was strange.**

**Katie: What was?**

**Duo: Some sort of big black ghost.**

**Paige: Awww, is Duo scared of the shadows?**

**Nahir: Why are those dark types chasing us?**

**Duo: Crap.**

**Jake: Feel the darkness surround you.**

* * *

**Coming soon.**


	6. From The Shadows

Chapter Six. From The Shadows.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As the rangers discovered a scroll hidden under the stone laden ground within a quarry, Bill set out to work in translating it. A process that was slow and incredibly difficult for him to do, made more annoying by the constant attacks from Noland and Mitchell onto Holimar City, using giant Pokémon based robots. Having destroyed four of them, Luke managed to track a signal to a warehouse in that very same city. Meanwhile, the two Coppingers unleashed Cunobot, a powerful robotic Articuno to attack. Unfortunately, they also managed to escape from Luke. Forming the Megazord again, the rangers managed to defeat the Articuno machine, before going back to the Silver Gyarados for some long awaited rest..._

_

* * *

_

Walking into the Pokémon Centre in Eon City, Duo instantly began to scan the room. Wondering if there were any people in that he knew, realising in that moment how stupid that train of thought was. While previously in Eon City, he'd not gained that many new friends. Even Ethan, the gym leader, hadn't become too friendly with him. Brushing it off, he began to head over to the bar, keeping note of the item in his pocket that he'd come to get. Letting his body drop, the bar creaking under his weight, he took another sweep of the room with his eyes. This late at night, he didn't really fancy the trip through the dark towards the Silver Gyarados in his Hover Chaser. Maybe he could...

Letting a grin pass across his face at the thought, he heard the door at the entrance open up, the sound of wet sneakers on the tiled floor. Subconsciously glancing up to see who had just entered the building.

What struck him about her in that instant, was the way the light reflected off the pale blue opals that were her eyes. Raising his own eyes up, he noticed that she had long blonde hair tied into two ponytails. Shaking his eyes away, trying to regain some focus, he couldn't help but go back to her. Unable to stop smirking as he saw that she was wearing a green Leafeon T-Shirt... If only it had been an Umbreon, he thought to himself, with an even larger smirk... under an orange jacket. Her outfit completed by a pair of blue denim cargo pants and blue sneakers. A pair of Pokéballs at her waist.

"Jackpot," he muttered. "Time to whip out the old Duo magic."

Watching her move towards the section where the Nurse Joy was waiting, he took up his coffee and began to move over to the seating area. Just biding his time...

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph on the Coppinger Aerial Platform. Dogbots attack, and lose the fight._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The former rangers wave at the camera, before fading away._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"Hi!"

Looking up from the magazine, she gave him a strange expression. Her eyes scanning him up and down, almost as if she was trying to read something written on his forehead. Something invisible.

"Hi," she replied. "What's up?"

"Ah, I was passing by," Duo replied, casually. "Saw that you're a reader of Breeder Weekly. Good magazine."

"It's okay," she said, as he sat down across from her at the table. "See that you've taken it upon yourself to sit down."

"Yeah, there's nowhere else," the black ranger replied, shrugging his shoulders. "At least close to the door."  
"Why do you feel the need to be close to the door?"

"It's an exit," he replied. "If needs must, I can make a quick getaway."

"Why would you need to make a quick getaway?" she wondered. "Not a criminal, are you?"

"I'm not," Duo replied, letting a slightly hurt look flicker across his face. "And I'm hurt that you'd imply that."

"Never know, do you?" she said. "Anyway, if you're not..."

Sensing an opportunity for an opening, he grinned at her. An expression that seemed to reflect onto her own features.

"I'm Duo," he said. "And who are you when you're not accusing random people in Pokémon Centres of being criminals?"

"Sarah," she replied. "Sarah Evans."

"Right," he said. "You want a drink?"

* * *

"So, what brings you to Eon City?" he wondered. "Vacation, family business, random thing that..."

"Yeah, I'm on a pilgrimage," Sarah said. "My grandfather made me come over here to learn the best parts about breeding Eevee."

"Eevee?" Duo asked. "Nice. Cool Pokémon. I've got one. It was a gift from the gym leader in this City."

"So, you live here?"

"Nah, I'm originally from Johto. Just... here on a working vacation."

"What job do you do?"

"Trouble shooter against hostile takeovers," he replied. It wasn't the complete truth, but...

"I see," she replied. "You don't look much like one."

"I'm off duty."

"Oh," Sarah said, a smirk passing across her face. "Tell me, do you do this often?"

"What, come to Pokémon Centres?" Duo asked, letting a smile crawl across hs face. "Yeah, quite often. Good place to..."

"That wasn't what I was talking about," she replied, leaning her face in close to his. "You think I don't see right through you? What you're really after?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you're..." he started to protest.

"Yeah," Sarah said, getting up. "You do. Thanks for the drink. Maybe I'll see you again at some point. Although I wouldn't bet on it."

As she strode off out the door into the night sky, Duo subconsciously snapped out his leg, kicking the bottom of the table.

"Damnit!" he exclaimed, realising that he'd been had. How had she known what had been going on in his head? Had it been blind luck that she'd done that. Or, had it been something else?

Crumpling the coffee cup up in his hand, he tossed it over towards the trash and began to head for the exit to the alley.

* * *

Gritting his teeth in anger as he stepped out into the alley, his head subconsciously shaking at the memory, he now knew he was going to have to get on the Hover Chaser and go through the night sky towards the Silver Gyarados. Not that he had a problem with that, but he could have done without it at this moment in time.

Bringing his morpher up, ready to transform into his ranger suit, his attention was diverted by the almost thunderous clatter in the background behind him. Lowering the item down, he turned to try and see what it was. Seeing nothing at first, he took a slow step forward, trying to ascertain if he was being watched or not. Hearing another of the sounds, his attention was drawn to one of the bins across from them. The lid thumping up and down, not a breeze of wind in the air.

Shaking his head again, the black ranger took a step forward towards the lime green item. Thinking that a Skitty had probably got trapped inside, the next thought into his head was that he was going to manage a good deed for the day.

"Or possibly tomorrow," he muttered, looking for his watch. The curiousity about the time finally getting the better of him, the supposedly luminous hands not really showing up in the night sky. "Piece of crap."

Forgetting about it, he pulled the lid up and across to let out what was inside...

Instantly regretting it as something cold, black and lifeless charged out of the small container, striking him instantly in the face. Letting out a shocked yell, he was thrown back by the sudden attack, landing on his back across from it. Shooting a glance up to the sky, ready to defend himself should the need arise, he quickly realised that whatever had happened had gone.

"What the hell?" he asked, getting up. "... Just happened?"

Hearing no answer from the darkness, he quickly turned and began to head for the exit of the alley. Suddenly feeling very uncomfortable about being in this place.

* * *

"Man, that was strange," Duo said, feeling slightly relieved that he was back on the Silver Gyarados. Away from the general weirdness that had been filtering through the alley earlier. "I've never..."

"What was?" Katie asked, not looking up from a stack of papers in front of her. Her eyes running across the print, the red ranger not really paying attention to what was going on around her. Luke was tossing a pair of tennis balls up into the air with the power of his mind, while Paige was looking out of the window across to the dark oceans.

"Some sort of big black ghost," he replied, Paige immediately looking up in interest.

"He looks lonely?" she asked. "Looking for a little ghost companionship?"

"Yeah, that's just an unpleasant image," Duo replied. "But, no. It was... Terrifying."

"Awww," Paige said. "Is Duo scared of the shadows?"

"Oh come on," he shot back. "I'm not scared of anything."

"What about commitment?" Paige quipped, holding a hand up for Katie to high five. A gesture the red ranger was ready to return, until the moment that her hand went through Paige's. "Oops, sorry. I forgot."

"How can you forget that you're a ghost?" Luke wondered. "Isn't that a bit like forgetting that you're human?"

"I don't know," Paige retorted. "How often do you have to remind yourself that you're human? In theory."

"Anyway, what's so interesting?" the black ranger asked, looking over at Katie. Wondering what it was that she was glancing at.

"It's a translation of the scroll," she replied, holding it up. "Bill left it up here, but I can't make anything of it. It's just garbled crap. I mean... Listen to it. Grepa Oblong Today Ooze Make Object Unify Normal Toast Horticulture In East Location Ozone. And there's something else after that. Words cannot describe it, but it is right in front of your eyes."

"Cryptic," Duo muttered. "All that from one scroll. Anyway, I'm off to bed. Can't think right now."

As he walked out of the room, Paige let out a sarcastic little burst of laughter.

"Does he ever think?" she asked. "Or just jump in both feet first."

* * *

Jerking up awake in bed, Duo could have sworn that he had heard the howl of a Houndoom. Somewhere on the Silver Gyarados. Which really creeped him out, since he knew for a fact that none of the other rangers or trainers on board had one. So, how did it...?

Getting out, he took several steps towards the exit of the room. Wondering what the heck was happening lately, he pushed the door open...

... Only for the bloodthirsty snarling visage of a manic Houndoom to erupt into view, charging straight towards him. Ready to rip him to pieces. Slamming the door shut, Duo immediately flung himself over to the bedside table, grabbing up his Feraligatr's Pokéball. Taking a step back over to the door, he slid it open slightly, taking a peek around the crack...

Nothing was there. He was alone in the corridor, not another conscious being in sight. Much to his surprise.

"What the heck is going on?"

* * *

"You ever hear the Legend of the Were-Absol?" Ryan asked. "Brilliant story. I was surfing the net last night and came across it."

"Can you please not talk about that, right now?" Duo wondered. "I had a bad dream. I think. Did anyone else hear a Houndoom last night? Because I was almost ripped to pieces by one."

"Oh no!" Nahir said. "Is it okay?"

Ignoring the slight, Duo shrugged. Hoping that the act of indifference would irritate her.

"Well," he replied. "I don't know. I woke up in the night because I heard a howl. I went outside, I was almost attacked. Then, when I went back out with my Feraligatr, it had gone."

"Someone has a guilty conscience," Katie remarked. "Anyone else think that it's a coincidence that you once dated someone who had an association with a Houndoom."

"Only you, apparently," Duo commented, as nobody else said anything at the comment. "And I never look back at anything with regret."

* * *

"How long do you think this will take?"

Shooting a glance over to where his new companion was stood, looking at the outlines of Eon City, Jake shrugged his shoulders.

"Could be any time," he replied. "Could be hours. Could be days. It probably won't be weeks."

"Do we really have days?" Andreas Hawk wondered. After the Genesis Book induced transformation, he now resembled his name, having taken on the appearance of a Staraptor. From the mane across his head, to his now feathered skin, to the wing-like arms with a pair of hands at the end. At the end of his legs, he had a pair of wicked looking taloned feet.

"I'm sure that there's something in Eon City," Jake said. "Something that we can use for the Genesis Book. Only thing is, we can't search for it like this. So, we have to go for a different approach. The inducer is in place where everyone can come into contact with its effects."

"But, I don't particularly want to spend longer than I have to looking like this," Hawk whined. "So..."

"Tough," Jake replied. "As soon as our plan comes to fruition, we can spend as long as we want looking for whatever it is."

"If the rangers don't stop us," Hawk commented. "We heard from Fuller and Noland. It didn't go so well for them."

"Soon, all of Eon City will be trapped inside an illusion," Jake snickered. "If the rangers try to intervene, they will be as well."

* * *

"Something's really strange," Duo commented, having seen several more illusions of strange dark type Pokémon. He'd nearly been mauled by an Absol, gutted by a Weavile and could have sworn that he'd seen a Sharpedo circling the Silver Gyarados in the water below. "Can nobody else see these things?"

"Only you, apparently," Xavier remarked. "You going a little crazy, Duo?"  
"I've been crazy for a long time," he replied. "Insanity is in the blood. Only I could make jokes about this disturbing situation."

"Actually, I think several comedians do," Luke offered, glancing over from where he was making Nahir's deck chair levitate up into the air. Trying to do it without the yellow ranger noticing. "So..."

"They're not in the situation physically though, are they?" the black ranger argued. "So..."

"When did it start?" Nahir wondered. "When did you first start seeing these things. Even if they're real or not."

"It was in Eon City," Duo said, stroking his chin. "After I'd hit on that girl in the Pokémon Centre..."

"Now, I wish I hadn't bothered saying anything," Nahir muttered, rolling her eyes. "Luke, will you stop levitating my chair."

"Why, does it annoy you?" the purple ranger asked, a smirk fluttering across his face as it started to float up off the ground again. Starting to spin about six feet off the ground. "So, was she nice?"

"Yeah, she was quite fine," Duo replied, the chair dropping back to the deck. "She looked a bit like Katie when she was blond."

"Well, whatever appeals to you," Ryan commented, looking up from his iPhone. "You've got to do what you got to do."

"To be fair," Luke said. "She doesn't really sound my type."

"I dread to think what your type actually is," Nahir muttered, the deck chair rising up again. "Seriously, knock it off."

"Or what?"

A split second after making the comment, Luke was yelping in pain and quickly rubbing at his head, the deck chair settling back down onto the ground. Nahir stretching her legs out to the full length, a smile on her face.

"That's much more peaceful," she remarked. "Faster than a speeding bullet. Of course, I don't happen to have any of those handy, so..."

"I wouldn't mind testing that theory," Luke grimaced. "Anyway, what are you going to do about your problem?"

"Well, I hardly think that getting rejected by some spooky psychic girl in a Pokémon Centre is a problem," Duo replied. "I mean, it's a setback, but..."  
"I was talking about the dark types," Luke said, not seeing the Drapion stride across the deck next to him. Clicking its claws together, ready to clamp them down on the purple ranger. "What are you going to do about that?"

"It started in Eon City," Duo remarked. "That's where I'm going to go look. Besides, it's not like we have anything else to go on right now. We're going nowhere with the scroll and..."

"Nobody can tell you what to do," Ryan commented. "Apart from Katie, but she's elsewhere."

* * *

Stepping out into the street, a cold wind sweeping down around him, the black ranger pulled his coat up around his neck to avoid the chill that tore down his spine. Suddenly realising how empty and abandoned the streets were, the inhabitants of the City seeming to be nothing but a memory.

"This is creepy," he muttered. "What's next? I'm going to yell out 'Is anyone here?' and something disturbing is going to happen."

"Think you might have been watching too many horror films."

Looking down at his morpher, letting a wry grin pass across his face. The sound of Katie's voice relaxing him slightly.

"We're running the scanner over the area," Bill offered, sounding like he was underneath something. "There definitely are some strange signals coming up off Eon City. It's hard to explain."

"I'm going to head over to the Pokémon Centre," Duo replied. "See if there's anyone there. This place is..."

"If you need any help, then give us a call," Katie said. "We can be there in... Four minutes."

"I'll take you up on that, ma'am," the black ranger replied, grinning slightly. "Didn't know you cared so much. It must be love."

Not rising to the bait and replying, Katie instead hung up the other end of the line.

* * *

It was a short walk to the Pokémon Centre, Duo almost having got the way over to the building embedded into his memory from his times in the city. Both with G-Force, but also in the times after. Still he had failed to encounter anyone, something that was worrying him infinitely. Pushing the door to the Pokémon Centre open...

* * *

"Holy crap," Bill said, looking up from his screen. "What just happened? Is the system glitching?"

"What is it?" Lance asked, walking over to the seated PokéManiac. "What's wrong?"

"Duo just vanished off the grid, the radar, the face of the Earth, whatever you want to call it. He's gone. Without a trace."

"He can't have done," Lance said, puzzled by the implication. "Are you sure?"

"This is an extremely high tech system," Bill replied, almost looking insulted at the slight slight against his computer system. "It very rarely goes wrong."

"This could be one of those times," Lance retorted. "Right?"

"Everything else is working fine," Bill explained. "When something like this goes bad, it tends to take out five or six things at the same time. At least. So, it's not that, it's an isolated incident."

"If he has vanished..." Lance remarked. "We need to get the rangers down there as quickly as possible. To search for him."

"I'll let them know right away," Bill replied, moving his attention back towards the console. "Like she said, they can be there in four, five minutes max."

* * *

"Okay, we'll see if we can find him," Katie said, the five of them landing on the ground in the middle of the abandoned street in Eon City. "Split up. Xavier, you, Luke and Nahir go that way. Ryan and I will go the other way."

"Where do you think that everyone is?" Ryan asked, as he and the red ranger began to go out on their way.

"Probably inside," she replied. "They can't have vanished off the face of the planet."

"Duo did," Ryan pointed out.

"He's not gone," Katie said. "He's probably just doing something that he thinks is funny. If he is, I'm going to make sure that he regrets it."

* * *

"Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase freedom of the city," Xavier muttered, as the other three rangers continued on with their search. Heading towards the Pokémon Centre, knowing that it was the last place that Duo had been.

"Looters dream," Luke commented. "If any of us went in for that."

"Your family is rich," Nahir said, shaking her head. "Why would you think of something like that? You don't need to loot."

"Can't a guy have wild thoughts at all?"

"It's not a thought if you voice it," Xavier pointed out. "So... There's no chance that you two can go twenty minutes without starting an argument?"

"I'm not arguing," Nahir said. "I'm just explaining why I'm right."

"Touché," Luke muttered, before the three of them heard a roar in the background. The sound ringing out through an alley next to them, six shadowy shapes emerging out through the darkness. Two Absols, three Houndoom and a Weavile. All of them glaring at the three rangers, looking very much like they wanted to attack.

"They don't look friendly," Xavier muttered. "Might want to..."

Cutting him off in the middle of what he was saying, the six Pokémon charged. Heading straight towards them. Without hesitating, the three rangers turned to run.

"Why are those dark types chasing us?" Nahir wondered, as she, Luke and Xavier carried on with their desperate sprint, heading back the way that they had came. The twin Absols, the three Houndoom and lone Weavile all continuing to pursue them.  
"Don't know, but I don't want to find out," Luke said, trying to run faster. "I'm surprised that you're still here."

"What kind of person would I be if I ran off and left you two to see who was faster?" she gasped. "Oh wait, I'd be like you."

"You know what," Xavier said, turning around. "Screw this. Come and have a go if you think that you're hard enough!"

Activating his liquified skin ability, he braced himself for the impact...

... The pursuing Pokémon rushing onto the scene, crashing straight through him before vanishing.

Unable to remove the look of surprise from his face, Xavier turned to look at the other two rangers. Shocked at the incident.

"What just happened?"

* * *

Slowly opening his eyes, Duo found himself laid on the stone cold ground. After pushing the door open, he had passed out. He should have been in the Pokémon Centre... He probably was in the Pokémon Centre, there were some traces of the building design in there. The rest of it was completely different, resembling some sort of gothic tomb. Complete with a stone grave in the middle, the lid opened up. Unable to stop himself from taking a morbid step forward, he began to move towards it. Looking down to the occupant of the tomb, revulsion turning to fear and surprise as he recognised the figure inside.

"But...," he said, taking an involuntary step back. "That's me..."

"Soon, it will be you."

Looking around, he saw a strange black coated figure walking across the ground towards him, a mask the same colour as his coat masking his face. A black hat completing the attire, something telling Duo that this guy was trouble.

"What are you...?"

"This tomb will become your grave," the figure continued. "Soon, I shall have the pleasure of watching your last breaths."

"Crap," Duo said, looking at the figure in the front of him. "What the hell are you?"

"It's time for your judgement," he continued. "Feel the darkness surround you!"

"Nobody talks like that!" the black ranger shot back, bringing his wrist up. "None of this is real. So, this means I can kick your ass. Genesis Overload!"

Morphing into his black ranger suit, he flung himself out through the air, desperate to land a blow on whatever was causing the illusions. Much to his surprise, he hit the solid figure, knocking it back against a wall. Its arm flying out, knocking a tree over that in turn knocked a giant coffee pot over off the counter. The item shattering on the ground, a strange white energy billowing out of it.

That was when the entire illusion around him vanished. Revealing the two of them to be back in the Pokémon Centre from earlier, several startled patrons looking around at them.

"No!" the figure yelled. "The inducer."

"This is street theatre at its finest," Duo quipped, realising that the thing in front of him was one of the Coppingers from the aerial platform. Not that it was an easy comparison to make, the thing having mutated since the last time he'd seen it. "What happened to you? Because you're suffering from a severe case of ugly-itis."

"Watch your tongue, boy," he snapped. "Someone might rip it out."

"Someone might," the black ranger replied, sarcastically. "Although, it probably won't be you."

Bringing his foot back, Jake kicked out at Duo, the black ranger tripping to the ground under the attack. Without hesitating, the Coppinger mutant instantly ran for the door, Duo jumping up to go after him. Spinning around to look for a way of stopping him from the pursuit, Jake quickly saw a Mightyena growling at him. The dark type Pokémon almost on the verge of jumping on him in anger.

"That'll do!" he roared, throwing out a hand towards the black Pokémon. "Feel the wrath of the darkness."

As Duo watched, a stream of black dark coloured energy ripped out of Jake's hand, zapping the Mightyena. Within moments, it began to transform in a wave of black and grey energy, the creature standing up on two legs. It still looked like a Mightyena, the claws and teeth much larger than that on a normal Mightyena. Parts of its fur had fallen out, the eyes had turned a golden colour and a pair of horns had erupted out of its head. The tail was now forked, while the normally lean body was packed with muscle.

"Mightbite!" Jake roared. "Stop him!"

"No!" the owner of the Mightyena yelled. "My Mightyena!"

The creature that it had become let out a thunderous roar at him, the owner quickly realising that Mightbite would probably attack him if he stuck around. Charging towards the door, he was joined by several other patrons, Jake fading away into the crowd. As much as a mutant could fade away into a crowd, helped out greatly by Duo's attention being focused on dealing with Mightbite. Throwing himself through the air, hitting the monster in the chest with a flying kick, the black ranger saw the claws come up to slash away at him.

"Shadow Sabre!"

Bringing his weapon up, Duo blocked a pair of slashes that were thrown at him. A clang ringing out as the two clashed. Kicking out, the black ranger managed to force the monster back, trying to follow up with another sword strike. Roaring angrily, Mightbite charged at him, taking the attack on the shoulder. Hitting Duo full on in the body, he was thrown back through the doors by the attack, hitting the ground outside the Pokémon Centre.

Quickly getting up, he heard shouts from all around him. Checking out his surroundings, he saw the other rangers heading towards him. All morphed and ready to go.

"You guys took your sweet time," he remarked. "I mean... Why?"

"We're here now," Katie said, as Mightbite began to stride out of the Pokémon Centre. Baring his teeth at them, the muscles tensing up at the anticipation of battle. Tearing away at his shoulder, he ripped a Poké Ball from out of somewhere, dropping it down onto the ground. Within seconds, a group of Dogbots appeared from within the capsule, all blocking the rangers from the monster.

"I'll get Mightbite!" Duo yelled, running towards the monster. The other rangers moving in to battle against the hoard of robotic soldiers. Hacking through the crowds with their weapons, the Dogbots easily went down under the assault, not able to stand up against the attacks. Across from them, Duo was dueling against Mightbite again, his Shadow Sabre clashing against the monster's claws. Bouncing up off the wall, he hit the monster with a kick to the head, momentarily stunning him. In that time, he took the opportunity to strike him five, six, seven times with the blade. The metal starting to shine with a black energy, as he landed the final strike.

"This should make you feel right at home," he quipped. "Night Slash!"  
Bringing the weapon forward, hacking out through the air, he watched it crash against Mightbite. The blow forcing the Mightyena monster down to the ground where he exploded into thousands of pieces.

Punching the air, Duo turned around to celebrate with the other rangers. All of who were relieved to see him in a healthy position.

* * *

Watching the scenes take place from the alley across the road, Jake shook his head.

"This isn't over yet," he said, rolling his eyes. "Darkness rising!"

Instantly, a stream of black energy erupting from his hand and hitting the remains of Mightbite. The monster instantly reforming, getting to his feet and expanding to many times his normal size. Proudly roaring in anger, the rangers all instantly reacting.

"Time to transform!" Duo said, morphing out into his giant Umbreon form. The other rangers doing the same, Mightbite angrily roaring at the sight of six Eevolutions now surrounding him.

"So not an Eevee person," Luke quipped. "Think we should put him in his place?"

"Overload Zords!" Duo yelled. "Megazord formation!"

Under the command, the six Zords turned into their robot forms and began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbs and tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. As the Megazord stood up straight, it stretched out its arms.

Roaring in anger, Mightbite began to stride towards them. Slashing out at the Megazord with his claws, sparks raking up from the metallic body. Not letting up, the monster next tried to take a bite out of the shoulder of the Overload Megazord, dents emerging up across the body.

"This is starting to get annoying," Katie said, hitting a button in front of her. Moving her hands across the controls, she directed the Megazord into hitting back with a punch. The attack planted square in Mightbite's face, the monster letting out a yelp of pain. Slashing out with the claws in a blind fury, more damage was dealt to the Megazord.

"Time to up it a notch," Duo said, activating the controls in front of him. "Genesis Blaster! Hydro Pump!"

Almost instantly, as the Megazord brought up the weapon, a powerful torrent of water erupted out of the barrel to smash against Mightbite. The blast throwing him back through the air before he crashed down to the ground in pain. As he tried to get up, the Overload Megazord moved in, hitting him in the back of the head. Giving them just enough room to summon the Genesis Staff.

"It's time for you to go back to where you came," Duo said. "Good night, you've been a great audience. Element Overload!"

In the next few moments, the robot brought the weapon up. Slashing it down six times, the six colours racing across Mightbite's body, completely devastating him. As he collapsed to the ground, he exploded into thousands of pieces. Down below them, the original Mightyena shook itself off, before darting off towards its watching trainer.

"Doesn't that just warm the heart?" Luke commented, sounding bored. "Anyone have a clue what's going on?"

"Not really," Duo said. "Other than the Coppingers appear to have mutated somehow."

"This really doesnt' make things easier," Nahir complained. "Seriously..."

"I already knew that," Luke remarked. "You're not telling me anything new."

"Any chance that you were going to let us all know that at some point?" Xavier asked. "Jeez."

"Well, I forgot, didn't I?"

* * *

"So, we've still got nothing to go on," Bill said, shaking his head. "Jeez. There has to be some way of reading this thing."

"I don't know," Katie remarked, picking the scroll back up. "It seems like we've tried everything. They don't even form a coherent sentence when rearranged."

"Come on," Xavier insisted, looking at a printout of the item. "It says that the answer is right in front of our eyes. Just... We can't see it."

"Let's see..." Nahir said, running her eyes up and down the page. "We're missing something... There is something here..."

"If you can spot it, then you're better than me," Luke remarked. "Because, I'm sick of the sight of whatever it is."

"Words cannot describe it," Nahir continued. "What does that...? In front of your..."

As Ryan let out a yawn, he was quickly drowned out by the sudden sight of the yellow ranger jumping up and down and cheering.

"Let me guess," Bill remarked. "You got something."

"I know what it means," she announced. "I've got it. I think. Hand me one of those markers and..."

As the PokéManiac did so, she began to cross something out on the page. Eventually holding it up to reveal the first letters of each word. Everyone else realising instantly that it was a direction.

"Go to Mount Hielo," Katie read aloud. "Well, that makes things easier."

* * *

**Author's Notes...**

**Sarah Evans... There's a cameo from another ranger fic right there... Part of an in-joke between me and PikaFlash. One that may or may not be explained at some later date.**

**Anyone get that straight out from the strange list of words? Just wondering.**

**Thanks for the reviews. All are appreciated.**

**So, the next one is entitled Grime Time. The preview is above... I mean below. That would be different.**

**Anyway, that should be up soon.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Please! Duo is going to be replying today. Well, for this chapter, anyway.**

* * *

**Chapter Seven, Grime Time, preview.**

**?: I hate that perky little yellow ranger. So badly.**

**?: Let's get her, shall we?**

**Katie: Well, that was random.**

**Duo: Holy rotten Darkrai? What's that smell?**

**Nahir: Something strange is happening here.**

**Luke: I'll find some way to save you.**

**Nahir: I'm turning into a Grimer.**

**Bill: You've unlocked a new Megazord attack.**

* * *

**Coming soon.**


	7. Grime Time

Chapter Seven. Grime Time.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_While on an errand in Eon City, Duo tried out his luck in hitting on a random girl named Sarah. When she rejected him, he made to leave only to be attacked by something strange. Later on the Silver Gyarados, he was nearly attacked several times by dark type Pokémon. Realising it had started out in Eon City, he went back there only to vanish. As the other rangers came onto the scene, they were also attacked by dark types. Meanwhile, Duo awoke to confront Jake, managing to shatter the entire set of illusions that he'd put up to search the city. As Jake turned a Mightyena into the Mightbite monster, the rangers had to stop the creature from wrecking everything. Meanwhile, Nahir managed to decipher the scroll. Realising that it was telling them to go to Mount Hielo..._

_

* * *

_

"So, you can run a complete satellite image of Mount Hielo from up here?" Ryan asked, looking impressed at what he was seeing in front of him. A virtual imaging of the mountain, completely transparent. "That's impressive."

"Yeah, I know," Bill replied. "Just a little thing that I came up with myself..."

"It's also completely wrong," Duo said, butting into the conversation. "There's a huge chamber here. Although it was filled with lava over a year ago. We used to keep the G-Force Zords in there."

"Really?" Bill asked, jumping up on the spot. An awed look on his face. "That's awesome. That's fantastic. The things you know. But, that doesn't show here. Even if it is filled with lava, then there should still be an outline. A shadow, an echo, a remnant. Something like that."

"Most interesting," Lance commented. "What can this mean?"

"Maybe something is..." Nahir said. "Is it not possible that..."

Pausing for breath, she looked over at Duo. Looking like she hoped he could answer the question.

"You say that Dorlinda kept the G-Force Zords there. Maybe he placed some sort of futuristic technology within it, meaning that it can't be picked up via this method. I mean, if someone was to do the same thing at some point in history, he wouldn't want what was being kept there to be revealed for all to see."

"It doesn't matter, anyway," Bill said. "If it's filled with lava..."

"We don't know how flooded it is," Xavier remarked. "Or even if it is in the mountain itself. It might be on top. That chamber might be completely unrelated to everything that we're talking about."

"You just know that it probably isn't going to be," Luke commented. "Okay, fearless leader, where do we go from here?"

Looking around to Katie, he immediately saw her shrug.

"Let's see..." the red ranger replied. "Okay, Duo, Nahir and I are going to head to Eon City. We're going to see if we can find out what's been done with Mount Hielo in the time since the volcano erupted out there. Then, we're going to head up to the mountain and take a look. The rest of you are going to stay here in case of an emergency. Xavier's in charge in our absence."

"Bet he's going to love that," Luke muttered, rolling his eyes. "Getting that leadership kick back."

"Okay, let's get going then," Nahir said. "Onward and upward."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph on the Coppinger Aerial Platform. Dogbots attack, and lose the fight._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The former rangers wave at the camera, before fading away._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"I can't believe that we had to come in here," Duo grumbled, as he, Katie and Nahir walked into the Pokémon Centre in Eon City. "Last time we were here..."

"That could happen," Nahir said. "Jeez, do you ever stop complaining."

"I had a bad experience in this City," the black ranger insisted. "Last time I was here. And about forty times before that..."

"So, you get rejected a lot," the yellow ranger retorted. "That's no reason to..."

"I was talking about battling crazed Pokémorph mutants," he said, annoyed. "Can you miss the point any more?"

"Well with you, you never know," Nahir shot back. "So, you've battled in here a lot. Big deal. I've done it on another planet, populated entirely by strange Deoxys creatures."

"I've done it in Hoenn," Duo retorted. "I did go into space as part of it, but I never left the ship."

Glancing over to the TV in the corner, Nahir let out a snort of laughter at what she'd seen. The item showing a contest from somewhere else in the world, a blue haired girl commanding an Umbreon on the screen in front of a crowd.

"Coincidence," she commented. "That looks suspiciously like another one of the Hoenn Rangers. One that I met about eight months ago."

"You think it's the same person?" Katie asked, glancing over. "You think that's...?"

"And your point is?" Duo commented. "I'm friends with Felix Jefferson on Facebook."

"Whatever floats your boat," Nahir muttered. "So, what were we looking for again?"

Unknown to the three of them, a figure was watching them from across the room. A smirk fluttering across her face under the veil she wore, she quickly turned tail and made to leave. Nobody noticing the blue and red feathered tail sticking out of the bottom of her purple and cream coloured coat.

* * *

"Honey, you're home."

Looking across to the figure across from her, Meredith Jewels shot him a look of displeasure. Something that he didn't see under her veil. Removing her coat and veil, she heard him let out a snicker.

"My my my. Hope none of them saw you wandering around like that. At least you've got a face that people will remember. Everyone loves a Milotic."

Snarling angrily, Meredith threw her veil at him. His sadistic giggle ringing out across the room, as she shot a woeful look at herself in the mirror. Her hidden face being that of a Milotic, her entire appearance having being contorted into something resembling that Pokémon. She even had a tail, the thing that distressed her the most. The scales frequently itching from the lack of water. Trying to put it out of her mind, she headed over to the sink, running the tap across her hand.

"How went your little outing? Pick up something about our mortal enemies?" the shadowed figure wondered. "Yet, you look ever so furious... I'm enjoying it tremendously."

"I was watching them," Meredith muttered. "Those rangers... From first impressions, I hate that perky little yellow ranger. So badly."

"You really do, huh?" he asked, smirking. "Let's get her, shall we? That's our new plan. We'll take her down. Since I can't think of anything better to do. Just tell me... What's the problem with her? Not that I need a reason, but..."

"Something in her poise," Meredith replied, slowly. "The little ray of sunshine that flutters across her eyes when she smiles. Just the sort of person who everything goes right for. Where as I'm trapped looking like this. My natural fabulousness thrown away before its prime. What would really make me feel better is if something like that would happen to her. Something really unfortunate."

"Well, funny that you should say that," the cloaked figure commented. "While you were out, I broke into several lockers, stealing some Poké Balls. I can use my venom to morph them."

"Didn't you get the idea from Jake?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "Now, there's someone who can get things done."

"If you're going to be like that, then you probably don't want my help," he commented, a green skinned arm coming up out of the shadows. One that resembled the arm of a Cacturne. Clutching at a Poké Ball, which he dropped to the ground. The item crashing open, a Muk emerging out from within it. At the sight of the poison type, Meredith couldn't help but screw up her face in disgust. Letting out a high pitched giggle, the figure across from her stuck it in the back of its head with his hand. The Muk groaning, as it started to change its form, glowing with a white light. Similar to the action of evolution. As the creature stood up, she couldn't help but wrinkle her nose up at the smell. Even though she no longer had one in the same way as before.

"That's how bad it smells," she commented, the creature giving her a disparaging look. Keeping in shape with its prior appearance, it was based on a Muk. Easily standing over six feet tall, its body was the shape of a Gengar, although the ears and legs were the only other thing that remotely resembled the ghost type. The rest of it was pure Muk, from the face, to the slippery sludge body, to the hands and arms.

"Like you're so squeaky fresh," the monster commented, snidely. "The name is Mukrucker. What do you need?"

"My darling creation," her companion said, in a voice that resembled honey sliding across glass. "Go forth and destroy those rangers. Make a special case of the yellow ranger. Dear Meredith demands it. She feels inadequate next to her."

"So I can see," Mukrucker commented. "Bet she doesn't have scales."

Throwing her hands up in anger, Meredith turned away to leave. The squelching sound of the monster vanishing away through the floor telling her that he had left.

"Charming fellow," the man behind her commented, leaving his seat to stride over. Placing his Cacturne arms around her shoulders, the long purple hair rubbing against the back of her now smooth skull. "What's wrong?"  
"Jeez, Ro," she said, breaking away from him. "What's wrong with you?"

"Just because you feel inadequate," he said. "You're not looking so great any more."

"Like you're such an oil painting," she snapped. "You're a scarecrow monster."

"I've accepted that this... Distasteful act is necessary for the greater purpose," Ro replied. "So, there. But, I think that you can rest your mutated little head about one thing. By the time he's finished with her, neither will the yellow ranger."

"Are you sure?"

"You will be a picture of beauty compared to her," Ro replied, stroking her cheek. "Even more so than before."

* * *

"Okay," Katie said, the three of them heading towards the shape of Mount Hielo far in front of them. "Apparently the resort at the top was shut down when the volcano erupted. Health and safety."

"Hate it when that happens," Duo commented. "I mean... Isn't the whole point about vacationing at the top of a mountain to have an element of danger?"

"Maybe in your world," Nahir muttered. "I mean... Who needs an element of danger?"

As she finished speaking, the squelchy shape of Mukrucker leaped up out of a nearby sewer. Landing in front of them, the three rangers instantly looked around for civilians. Although they didn't see any, Katie made the call.

"We can't risk being seen morphing," she said. "If someone comes past..."

"Which one of you is the yellow ranger?" Mukrucker demanded. "I'm here to mess you up."

"Lucky me," Nahir quipped. "Better monsters than you have tried. What makes you think that you're going to be different?"

"We'll take him together!" Duo said. "Even unmorphed, the three of us can hold him off."

"Sorry," Mukrucker taunted, dropping a Poké Ball down onto the ground. Sending out a squad of Dogbots, the robots instantly taking up a fighting stance. "This is one on one."

"I can take him," Nahir said. "Let's do this."

Moving into attack, the three rangers went on the offensive. Nahir heading for the huge liquid shape of Mukrucker, while Duo and Katie held back to battle the Dogbots. Throwing a kick at one, Katie watched it crash back to the ground, letting out a mechanical growl as it jumped back up. Jumping up off the closest wall, she kicked it in the head, watching it fly off and hit a parked car. Shattering the wind shield.

"Petty acts of vandalism," Duo called. "Luke would be proud."

Taking a step back, he easily evaded a strike that was thrown at him. Grabbing the arm, twisting it and flipping the robot to the ground before stamping his heel into its neck. Seperating it from the rest of the body. The shout from Katie alerting him, he spun around to see two more heading for him.

"Guess I've got that animal magnetism" he said, casually. "Now you see me, soon you won't."

Quickly turning invisible, the two of them instantly looking confused at having lost him. As much as Houndour headed robot could look confused. Within moments, he'd cracked their heads together, the damage enough to send them down to the ground. Reappearing, he let out a sharp burst of laughter.

"Wonder if I'll still be making that joke in ten, twelve years?" he mused, looking around to see how Katie and Nahir were doing. "No comment from them."

Across from him, Katie had decided to crack out the powers of her own. Unleashing a burst of heat into the one closest to her, the frame of its body began to melt under the intense pressure. Holding another burst out in her hand, the skin super-heating up to its max temperature, she struck out with a karate chop. Hitting a Dogbot in the neck, her white hot skin was enough to take its head off.

"You're on fire," Duo quipped. "At least part of you is, anyway."

"Why thank you. No quip about me being hot?"

"Not unless you want me to come out with one."

"I'll pass."

* * *

"Come on!" Mukrucker taunted, as Nahir leaped forward. Hitting him with a jump kick, the blow sliding away off his body. Unable to avoid letting out a slight sound of disgust at the squelching sound that had ripped out, she bent down to pick up a metal pole. Smashing it against the head of the monster, she heard it slide away across the slippery skin. Mukrucker letting out a laugh, as he extended out a hand and grabbed her by the throat.

"Are you even trying?" he demanded. "Because..."

Roaring in pain, he staggered back suddenly. The sickly smell of burnt sludge erupting up across the area, as she hit the ground. Katie stood across from them, the heat radiating out from her outstretched hand still.

"Huh?" Mukrucker asked, shocked. "You beat the Dogbots quickly. Guess I'll have to hit and run..."

"Are we ready to morph yet?" Nahir asked, getting to her feet. "Because..."

Interrupting her, the monster leaped forward. Showing surprisingly agility despite his size and shape, Nahir couldn't react fast enough to evade the attack. As he exhaled out all over her, a strange purple gas being inhaled by the yellow ranger, he let out another burst of laughter before vanishing back the way he had came. Through the sewers.

"Huh," Duo commented. "I haven't seen movement like that since the oil wrestling in Canalave City."

"Well," Katie said, shrugging her shoulders. "That was random."

"Meh, what can you do about it," Duo remarked. "They show up, we kick their asses. It's been that way since the start of time. If they had this stuff at the start of time."

The next thing that the two of them heard, was the sound of Nahir starting to cough. Groaning slightly, as a revolted look passed across her face.

"That was foul," she complained. "That's the worst thing I've smelt. Ever. That filthy thing breathed on me."

"She has a point," Duo said. "It wasn't the most pleasant smelling thing out there."

"You okay?" Katie asked, looking the yellow ranger up and down. "You're going a little green."

"I don't feel so good," Nahir admitted. "I feel queasy."

"You want to head back to the Silver Gyarados?" the red ranger wondered. "We can take this from here without you, if you're not feeling up to it."  
"I can... I can do it," Nahir insisted. Before doubling over and letting loose with her last meal.

"Nice," Duo commented. "Almost reminds me of someone else. Another pink ranger."

"Nahir," Katie said, her voice firm yet kind. "Go back to the Silver Gyarados. Right now. You're obviously not feeling good."

"I... I might do that," she groaned. "Pity we don't have a medical team on board."

"We hardly ever get badly hurt," Duo pointed out. "What would be the point?"

* * *

"Hey, you're back," Xavier commented, as Nahir staggered out onto the bridge of the Silver Gyarados. Promptly vomiting into the closest trash can, Bill letting out a shout of outrage.

"Not near the consoles!" he yelled. "Jeez."

"Well, that's not cool," Ryan remarked, glancing at the PokéManiac. "She's obviously feeling ill."

"It's okay..." the yellow ranger groaned. "I just feel... Terrible."

* * *

"Guess we might as well see what sort of damage was done to the chamber below," Katie commented, the two rangers traversing up the side of the mountain. "If you can remember where it is."

"Of course I can," Duo replied. "I mean... the first time I saw it, we were attacked by a Kabutops Omastar combination. Not the sort of thing that you forget."

"Yeah, I can relate," she said. "I remember the first demon that I and the other SDI rangers took out. Golicargo, I think..."

"I'm just going to ignore the irony of that statement," Duo remarked. "But, it's..."

Looking around, the two of them heard the sound of something crashing through the trees. The sound of something heavy, the crashing sending them both into fighting stances.

"Not more of them again," Katie muttered. "Let's get ready to..."

Interrupting her, the source of the noise became apparent. A pair of Hikers and a Machop striding through the undergrowth, both trying to look as stealthy as possible.

"Oh terrific," Duo commented. "Not dumb and dumber."

"Yeah, but which one's which?" Tim wondered. "Are you going to stand for that, Mal? He called you dumb."

For a moment, silence hung out in the air. Before Tim spoke again.

"Wait, does this make me dumber?"

"I think that the facts speak for themselves," Duo remarked, sardonically.

"Well, you can't argue with facts," Mal said, his voice tinged with sage wisdom. "So, we'll just leave you two alone to carry on with whatever you're doing up here."

"Wait a second!" Time exclaimed, looking like he was still annoyed with the insult from earlier. "What are you two doing up here? A former Poké Ranger and some random dude... This is very suspicious..."

"Maybe to you," Katie said. "Now, we're up here for some privacy."

"Ah, it's like that, is it?" Mal smirked. The Machop mirroring the expression. "Good for you."

"Wait, what?" the red ranger asked, suddenly looking flustered by what he was implying. "You think..."

"That's exactly what we're doing," Duo piped up, winking at her from the corner of his eye. "Bit of time alone together. Now can you kindly..."

"Right, we'll be on our way," Tim said, the Machop nodding its head in agreement as it started to drag the two Hikers off the scene. "Enjoy that young love while it lasts..."

As the three figures vanished away off the horizon, the two rangers glanced at each other. Both simultaneously wondering the same thing.

"Would you...?" Duo started to ask, before the look that she was giving him told him that it was probably a bad idea to carry on with the question.

"Let's just find what we're looking for," she said, before letting out a small grin. "A patch of dry grass."

* * *

"Why are you being so nice?" Nahir groaned, as Luke and Ryan helped her through into her room. "It's not in... Character. You green rangers are all alike. Terrible terrible..."

"Is she talking about me, or you?" Ryan asked. "Because I'm sure that most green rangers are very nice people."

"The..." Luke paused to count mentally the number of green rangers he had met before. "... Five that I met have all been okay. From first impressions. That's really all I got. Apart from you. I know you're a dodgy guy."  
"Thanks for that," Ryan retorted, the two of them continuing through to help Nahir into her bed. "You think that..."

"Don't even suggest it," Luke said, guessing what the current green ranger was about to ask. "Just leave her as she is. Otherwise..."

"Yeah, you better believe it," she called, letting out a groan in between the words. "Just leave it at that. I'll give you otherwise..."

With those words still hanging, she dropped her face down to the bed and began to snore.

"You think she'll be okay?" Ryan wondered, as the two of them stepped back. Trying to be as quiet as possible as they left the room.

"I hope so," Luke muttered. "I just hope so..."

* * *

"This is it," Duo announced, the black ranger pointing to a door the same colour as the rocks, hewn into the side of the mountain. "Don't ask how, or why..."

"I'm not that interested in the how or why," Katie replied. "Just the what. "

"Sound," he remarked. "Okay, after you."

"It's not likely to still be hot," she said. "Either way, I appreciate your chivalry. Or sense of self preservation. One of the two."

Pushing the door open, the two rangers instantly saw the long black corridor down into the mountain. Just as Duo remembered it from the past. It didn't take long for them to start the move through the space. Only for...

"Holy rotten Darkrai," Duo complained, the aroma instantly striking them like a hammer blow. "What's that smell?"

"Sulphur, I believe," Katie said, the two of them carrying on down the corridor. The temperature slowly starting to increase, the further that they moved away from the entrance. "Yeah, that's sulphur."

"You think that we're going to find anything at all in here?" Duo wondered, the second set of doors up ahead of them. "We might not even be able to get anywhere, because of the lava."

"If there is any lava," Katie said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not even sure that there is any here."

"Unless Dorlinda brought a lava pumping machine back from the future and did some cleanup," Duo remarked, placing his hand on the door. Shoving it open to reveal what was behind it, Katie taking a quick glance through into the previous holding bay for the G-Force Zords.

"Well," she said, looking across to the sea of lava covering the floor of the chamber. The two of them stood on a blackened platform about six feet above it. The heat incredibly intense, both of them sweating heavily from the temperature. "I guess you weren't lying."

"You sound so surprised at that," the black ranger replied, doing his best to sound hurt at the comment. "We're here. What do we do now?"

* * *

Getting out of bed, instantly staggering towards the shower, Nahir couldn't quite explain why it was she felt so bad. Her churning stomach was currently doing cartwheels, feeling like it would let loose its contents at any point.

"Man," she complained. "This is..."

Continuing her weakened walk, unable to straighten up too much, she managed to get in the shower. Unable to help wondering why she couldn't straighten her body up to her normal height. Reaching for the handle of the shower, the yellow ranger prepared to feel the cascade of warm water pass across her skin. Hoping that it would make her feel better.

Instead, it somehow made her feel worse. As the water rushed across her body, she couldn't help but let out a scream as she glanced down at her hands. The pressuring force of the water appeared to be melting her skin away, thick cream coloured chunks of skin hitting the floor of the shower. Yet, there wasn't any marks on her skin, the previous smooth surface now looking thick and bumpy. Was it her imagination, or had it taken on a slightly purple tinge. Pulling a towel across her body, darting from the shower, the yellow ranger threw herself in front of the mirror. Letting out a scream as she realised her normally black hair had gone purple. The soft strands appearing to be sticking to her scalp. As she reached up to pull them away, she realised that they were fused to the suddenly malleable skin

"No!" she whispered, all her energy seeming to have vanished. Trying to make a run back to her room, she instantly slipped on the wet ground. Looking back up to see that her feet and legs were slowly starting to fuse together from the bottom down. "Somebody help me!"

Her spirits momentarily roused by the sound of knocking on the door, they were quickly dashed when she heard Luke's voice.

"Are you okay in there?" he called. "You sound..."

Biting the bullet, she conceded that she needed help. Even though she wasn't looking forward to seeing the look on his face.

"Luke," she said, softly. "Help me... Please!"

Barely seconds later, the door came crashing open, the purple ranger rushing in. Just as she had predicted, a shocked look passed across his face. But, what she hadn't guessed at, was the look of concern that soon followed as he came over to try and help her up. Her hand slipping out of his grasp, more chunks of skin falling onto the ground between them.

"Something strange is happening here," Nahir said, a look of panic passing across her face. "Oh no... No! No! No!"

"Just calm it down!" Luke insisted, reaching over to her. Taking her by the shoulders, a look of disgust flashing across his face as some of the slime that her skin was becoming started to slide across his skin. "I'll find some way to save you. I will..."

"I'm turning into a Grimer!" she screamed, her voice slowly getting deeper. "How can you help me!"

"Blind optimism," he replied, unable to offer much more than a small curl of the mouth. "I'm going to find the thing that did this to you."

"Might want to hurry," the yellow ranger said, unable to keep the worry out of her voice. "Please!"

"Nahir," he replied, solemnly. "I'm not going to let you down. Not now."

* * *

"Come on," Katie said, looking around the room. "There has to be some way of finding what we're after here."

"Even if this is in the right place," Duo remarked. "Whose to say that the thing we're looking for isn't about forty feet above our heads, buried in a treasure chest under about forty feet of earth."

* * *

"We've got a lock on him," Bill said, Xavier, Luke and Ryan looking over to the PokéManiac. "We have a location for Mukrucker. When he battled earlier today, the satellite managed to scan his bio-signature. And we can now track him."

"Well, that's handy," Xavier commented. "Shall we go and get him?"

"There's no time to waste," Luke retorted, glancing at the blue ranger. "Bill, get in touch with Duo and Katie right now. Tell them to meet us when they can. Paige, you keep an eye on Nahir."

"Oh, and if she tries to make a break for it, I'm just going to stand by and let her, I presume," the ghost shot back. "Seriously..."

"Well, why would she?" Luke demanded. "If that happens, get Lance or Bill to stop her."

"I'm against violence," Bill said, quickly. "I just enjoy watching you guys perpetrate it."

"What a strange philosophy," Ryan commented. "Okay, let's go."

"Genesis Overload!" Xavier shouted, the three of them activating their morphers.

* * *

"Ah, look at this!" Mukrucker taunted, the three rangers landing on the ground across from him. "Look what the Meowth dragged in."

"You're one to talk," Ryan commented. "Where'd you crawl out of? The sewers?"

"Why yes," he replied. "Thanks for the compliment."  
"Ah... It wasn't a compliment," the green ranger said. "So..."

"What did you do to Nahir?" Luke shouted, raising his fist. "Turn her back, right now!"

"Sorry, Nahir who?" the monster taunted. "Even if I wanted to, I'm not going to. That's going to happen over my dead body."

"That..." Luke snarled, bringing out his Psycho Spear. "Can be arranged!"

Letting out a snap of laughter, Mukrucker's mouth dropped open, unleashing a barrage of Sludge Bomb attacks towards the three of them. The blasts throwing them back to the ground, groaning in pain.

* * *

"Well, that was pretty pointless," Katie said, walking out of the door. Back onto the mountain, Duo shaking his head. "I mean, what a waste of time. Time we could have been spent looking elsewhere."

"Time is never wasted."

Both of them jumping up in surprise, they turned to see the familiar face of Dorlinda leaning against the side of the mountain.

"Not for you, oh immortal one," Duo commented. "Long time no see."

"Hello, Duo," the Lord of Time replied. "I'd ask how your health is, but I can tell you're still fine. Ditto to you, Katie."

"Don't suppose that you can help us out, can you?" Katie asked. "Because we're looking for something on this mountain. Any chance you can narrow it down?"

"Strange place, this mountain," Dorlinda mused. "In the distant past, there was a legend about it. That if you took a leap of faith, you could find what you were searching for."  
"If you think we're about to jump off the mountain, then you've got another thought coming," Katie commented.

"Think that's why they call it a leap of faith," Duo quipped. "Where about in the mountain?"

"Couldn't tell you," Dorlinda remarked, shrugging his shoulders. "That would be why they call it a legend."

As the three of them looked at each other for a moment, the two morphers went off. Katie bringing hers to her mouth.

"Yeah, what's up, Bill?" she asked. "What's happening?"

"Nahir's badly ill," the PokéManiac replied. "Whatever happened to her earlier is in her own words 'turning her into a Grimer.' She needs help. Luke, Ryan and Xavier are trying to defeat Mukrucker over in Lassana City."

"That sounds like a problem," Dorlinda commented. "I'll head over to the Silver Gyarados and see if I can lend a hand to your other problem. You two go over and help your friends."

"Poor Nahir," Duo said, shaking his head. "You think you can help her."

"Oh please," Dorlinda retorted, cockily. "It's me."

"That's good enough," Katie said, bringing her morpher up. Duo doing the same, both of them letting out simultaneous shouts.

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

"Psycho Cut!"

Slashing out with his spear, Luke watched the strike of psychic type energy rip across Mukrucker's body, the blade bouncing off the liquid skin.

"You can't hurt me!" the monster taunted, hitting out with a punch to smash the purple ranger back. Without hesitating, Xavier and Ryan came leaping into the fight, attacking with their weapons. Much with the same result as had previously happened with Luke. "I'm the Mukrucker."

"You're toast!"

Looking around, the monster was hit with a barrage of fire attacks. The blasts drawing his attention away from the other rangers, Mukrucker turned and fired a blind barrage of Sludge Bomb attacks in the direction that they'd come from. The newly arrived red and black rangers hurling themselves to the side, evading the attack.

"Ready for round two, Mukrucker?" Duo taunted, bringing out his Shadow Sabre. "Because we all are."

* * *

"She won't last much longer," Paige said, coming into the room via the wall. Both Bill and Lance looking over at her with worry, neither of them able to do anything. "Right now, she's more Grimer than human. I came to tell you..."

"Why aren't you back there, then?" Lance wondered, shortly. "We can't do anything right now. You might as well..."

"Well, I can't stand the look of pain and fear in her eyes," the ghost shot back. "And I can't do anything about it, other than tell her that it'll be fine. Even though neither of us believe it. Face it, we really are screwed this time."

"Then, it's a good thing that I came then."

Looking around in mild surprise, the three of them saw Dorlinda stood by the exit to the bridge. A large hypodermic syringe in his hand, a bright green liquid visible within it.

"Heard about your problem," he said, offering it to Bill. "Made a trip to the future to get something that might help."

"Can it cure her?" Lance asked, the expressions on Paige and Bill's faces mirroring how he felt inside. A soaring sense of optimism about how they might have got out of jail.

"Unfortunately, not," Dorlinda said. "But, it should slow the mutation almost to a halt. Buying the rest of the rangers enough time to destroy what did this to her."

"That's not going so well," Bill offered. "None of their attacks are doing much damage to Mukrucker."

"One of you give this to Nahir," Dorlinda said, placing the syringe on the table. "And give me the microphone."

* * *

The blade of the sword bouncing off the body of the monster, Duo felt himself take a punch to the ribs, the strike enough to drop him to the ground. A purple stain on his suit, as he tried to get back up to his feet, using the weapon as a balance. Behind Mukrucker, Xavier and Ryan came back in with their weapons, more ineffective strikes bouncing off his skin. Duo jumping back up to his feet, he was hit with a back kick, the strike throwing him through the air.

Across from the scene, Katie was helping Luke up to his feet. The purple ranger still seething slightly at what had happened.

"Let me at him," he snarled. "I'll..."

Before he could finish his outraged growls, the communicators in the morphers went off at their wrists. Dorlinda's voice quickly coming out.

"Rangers," he said. "You're going about this all wrong. If you can't affect him from the outside, then do it from within. Katie, you need to fire an attack straight down his throat. Luke, you need to use your Psycho Spear to get him to open his mouth. Hit him hard and fast!"

"We got any other plan?" Luke wondered, bringing up his spear. "Because..."

"Go for it!" Katie ordered, dropping a hand down to the Heat Blaster at her waist. "It's our only plan."

Letting out a roar, Luke brought the Psycho Spear up to an attacking position, the tip of the blade glowing with a bright purple light as he struck out at the monster.

"Psycho Cut!"

Slamming the weapon against the stomach of Mukrucker, the monster let out a winded wheeze of pain, the mouth opening up...

In the exact same second as Katie jumped up, the Flareon Battle Rifle in her hands. Pulling the trigger, the powerful mystical spirit of the Flareon erupted from the barrel, charging through the air and crashing straight down the throat of the monster. The white hot blast instantly destroying him from within, his remains clattering down to the ground.

"Thank you, Dorlinda," the red ranger muttered.

* * *

Back on the Silver Gyarados, Lance had just tossed the hypodermic into the trash, when Nahir sat up. Gasping for breath, the Grimer girl quickly began to shift back into her previous appearance. In record time, she was back to normal, still looking shell shocked. Her skin even paler than normal, as she gasped for more air.

"Are you okay?" Paige asked. "You look terrible."

"Probably better than I did," she quipped, getting off the bed. "I feel better than I did. Which wouldn't be hard."

"Nahir," Lance said. "The other rangers just destroyed Mukrucker. If things go the way they usually do, then they might need you. If you're up to it, that is."

"I'm hopefully up for a little payback," the yellow ranger replied. "In fact, I'll be annoyed if there isn't any."

Both Lance and Paige could appreciate and respect the look of determination that passed across her face, as she brought the morpher up.

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

Watching the scene from across the street, Meredith reached down into her purse. Bringing out a vial of green and purple venom, she brought her arm back and tossed it at the remains of Mukrucker. The container shattering, the liquid spilled out over the remains. Reforming Mukrucker, the monster rising up from the remains, before growing a giant size.

"Aww, man," Duo said. "And, we don't have our Megazord."

"Hey, guys!"

Hearing the sound of Nahir's voice, the black ranger quickly corrected himself with a laugh.

"Oh wait, I guess we do."

"You okay?" Katie asked, as the morphed yellow ranger came over to them. Stretching over to give her a hug, out of glee in seeing her alive and normal.

"I'm fine," Nahir said. "But, I'm ready for some retribution. Time to transform!"

The six of them transforming into their Eevee forms, Nahir quickly gave the second command as the electricity sparkled across her fur.

"Overload Zords! Megazord formation!"

Under the command, the six Zords turned into their robot forms and began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbs and tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. As the Megazord stood up straight, it stretched out its arms.

"I'm going to mess you up!" Mukrucker bellowed, striding out towards the Megazord. Firing several Sludge Bomb attacks at the robot, the attacks crashing off the metal body. Forcing it back, the rangers yelling in pain.

"Man," Nahir said. "This guy is annoying."

"Let's see how he likes this!" Katie remarked, directing the Overload Megazord into punching the slimy monster twice. Both attacks sliding away off the skin, Mukrucker punching the machine back.

"Let's try a different tactic," Nahir remarked. "Genesis Blaster! Psybeam!"

At her command, the Megazord brought the weapon up. Firing a purple beam of energy through the air, the attack bouncing off Mukrucker's body, smashing against a building.

"That should be super effective," Ryan commented. "How is it not working?"

"Same reason as before, presumably," Xavier said. "We can't hurt it from the outside. We're going to have to get inside somehow."

"No way in hell that we're going to be able to shoot it in the mouth again," Katie mused. "We need a different plan."

"No change there, then," Luke remarked, sarcastically. "We're forever changing our plans. Sometimes, I think we make it up as we go along."

"Well, you've got me worked out then," Katie retorted, looking down at the screen in front of her. "There has to be something in here that can work. Because I don't think that the Genesis Staff will. It'll just bounce off."

"I'm not letting this up yet," Nahir said, angrily. "I want this thing to suffer!"

"What happened to the real Nahir?" Duo quipped. "Normally, you'd be..."

"Do you really want to go into it with me?" she demanded. "Because..."

Cutting her off, the sound of thunder rang out in the sky above them. A powerful bolt of lightning crashing down through the air, hitting the Jolteon arm of the Overload Megazord. At the same time, the rays of the sun began to beam down onto the Espeon arm. Both respective Zords appearing to become charged up by the occasions.

"What the...?" Xavier asked. "What just happened?"

"It looks like you've unlocked a new Megazord attack!" Bill commented, his voice coming out through their morphers. "Nice."

"Let's do this!" Luke shouted. "Straight down the throat!"

"Psycho Thunder Strike!" Nahir roared, punching the button in front of her. The Megazord bringing its hands up, the Jolteon and Espeon arms glowing with the colour of their respective rangers. As Mukrucker began to laugh at the sight, the Megazord put its hands together. A powerful purple beam, surrounded by pulsating waves of electricity, rushing out through the air to strike Mukrucker in the mouth. The blast streaking straight down his throat, destroying him from within. As his laughter let out a groan, he fell back to the ground, exploding into thousands of pieces.

"Take that!" Nahir snapped. "How do you like me now?"

* * *

"Aww, Ro..." Meredith complained, back in the space that they were sharing. "They destroyed Mukrucker and the yellow ranger still looks normal."

"Well, there'll be other chances," Ro said, getting up out of the shadows. Walking into view, his appearance being that of a Cacturne with long purple hair. He had a pair of Wigglytuff ears, and a set of Octillery armour across his upper body. "We'll find what we need, love. Or my name isn't Harley Rocastle."

* * *

"I'm just glad to be back to normal," Nahir said, as she looked around at her friends. Everyone minus Katie, who had strangely gone missing after the battle. "All of you guys did great for me. I really appreciate it."

"Hey, you'd have done the same for us," Xavier remarked. "Probably even Luke."

More laughter rang out, as everyone looked over to the purple ranger. Leaning against the wall, trying to look indifferent about the whole thing.

"All I wanted to say, was thanks," Nahir continued. Ignoring his discomfort. "To you all. For you guys for trying to help me. For everyone else for not stopping believing. To Dorlinda for helping me."

Tipping her a bow, the Lord of Time turned tail and headed for the exit.

"Thanks again, guys," she continued, as everyone decided to follow Dorlinda's lead and make for the exit. Their tasks done for the day. Finally, as Luke made to leave, Nahir finally bit the bullet and called his name. His head craning back slightly, his eyes meeting with hers.

"Yeah?"

"Luke," she said, stiffly. "I hear it was you who was galvanising everyone to try and save me when I was..."

"This is torture for you, huh?" he asked, his smirk only half as large as it normally was. "Yeah, I did it. Don't tell anyone."

"This is why you irritate me so much," she groaned. "Can you ever take a compliment like this the right way? I'm trying to..."

"Nahir," he said, suddenly looking uncomfortable. "Listen, in the past, we might have had our disagreements. We might have rubbed each other up the wrong way, constantly got at each other. But, that doesn't mean that I don't care about you. I'm not about to let you down. And, even when you were half mutated, you're still the prettiest girl I've ever met."

"Wait, what are you..."

"There was so much that I've been wanting to tell you for so long," he continued, reaching down to take her hands in his. "I saw you like that, and I got worried that I'd lose you forever. I'd never have a chance to tell you how I feel. Because... I love you. I can't stop thinking about you, you're in my thoughts every second of the day."

As she took a step back stunned, her expression lasted only for a second. Before she stretched up on the balls of her feet, bringing her lips to his. He quickly returning the gesture, time seeming to stop still as they remained for a moment. Completely lost in the moment...

"Luke!"

Jerking his eyes open, he looked down at her. Shaking his head, to try and recover some composure.

"Yeah...?"

"This is another one of the reasons why you irritate me so much," she said. "I'm trying to give you a compliment and you zone out."

"Sorry," he replied, rubbing at his eyes. "Guess I'm tired. Thanks for the compliment."

"Yeah," she said. "Okay, I'll see you at some point."

"Great," he continued. "Okay, bye. Hey, you know where Katie went?"

* * *

Walking back into the corridor to the chamber in the middle of Mount Hielo, Katie had to keep taking several deep breaths. Keeping focused on the task right in front of her, knowing that it would be easy for her to lose her nerve if she let her mind wander.

"Come on," she muttered. "Got to stay on track. Got to not let my mind wander. I'm not going to die here. I'm not going to die."

Taking even more steps forward, her feet growing heavier with every movement, she saw the second set of doors. Pushing them open to get another look at the sea of lava in front of her. The sudden wave of heat not giving her much more confidence.

"This has to work," she said. "You better not have been telling lies, Dorlinda. Otherwise, I'm going to haunt you to the end of your very long life. Leap of faith."

Inhaling one more deep breath, she began to run. Sprinting the short distance between the door and the end of the platform. Taking a perfect dive off the edge, heading straight down towards the unbelievably hot magma below her...

* * *

To Be Continued...

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Dum dum dum.**

**Anyway, bit of a cliffhanger there. Plus, you get a cameo from everyone's favourite Lord of Time. I presume. There might be people out there who like Errol. Or Clarence.**

**How many of you were wondering with that penultimate scene with Luke and Nahir. Daydreams, huh...**

**Okay, so thanks for the reviews. All appreciated.**

**I'm just going to make a quick point that searching for every artifact isn't going to be a long drawn out process like this.**

**Next one, is entitled The Yes Man. Preview below, up at some point in next few days. Usual drill.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**

**Quick quiz question. If you want to answer it, feel free. Who are the five other green rangers that Luke has met?**

**Don't forget to review! Please! Nahir is going to reply to reviews today.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Eight, The Yes Man, preview.**

**?: I place a curse on the blue ranger.**

**Fuller: Without that secrecy, they will be nothing.**

**Xavier: I've got a TV interview about my win in the Verger league.**

**Katie: Cool. If they ask you any questions about SDI, deny everything.**

**Luke: You just know that's going to come up.**

**Xavier: I can't lie!**

**Nahir: How do we know you're telling the truth?**

**Bill: We are so screwed. Our only option is to break the curse before Xavier goes on camera.**

* * *

**Coming soon.**


	8. The Yes Man

Chapter Eight. The Yes Man.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As the rangers discovered the connection between the writing on the scroll and Mount Hielo, Katie, Duo and Nahir set out to go there. Unfortunately for them, a jealous Meredith and Harley were plotting against them. As the three of them made their way towards Mount Hielo, they were attacked by Mukrucker and some Dogbots. Nahir getting infected by something from the monster. As she returned to the Silver Gyarados, she found herself slowly starting to change into a Grimer. Meanwhile, Katie and Duo encountered Dorlinda at the mountain, before going to help the other rangers against Mukrucker. With the help of Dorlinda, they were able to destroy the monster and save Nahir. The best was yet to come, as the Megazord also gained a new attack. After the battle, Luke began to daydream about what could have been, while Katie took a leap of faith into the lava at Mount Hielo..._

* * *

"YAAAARGGGHHH!"

Hitting the lava head first, Katie didn't even have time to count all her regrets. Not even time for her life to flash before her eyes...

... Only to crash to some solid ground somewhere else. Groaning slightly as she tried to shake the impact of the crash from her mind.

"That hurt," she complained, rolling over onto her back. "Damn leap of faith. But, at least I'm still alive. That's good."

Slowly pulling herself up into a sitting position, getting up to her feet, the red ranger began to take in her surroundings. Realising very quickly that there wasn't much to look at. The four walls surrounding her completely backed in hardened lava. Some residual heat passing up from the stuff, enough to send a few beads of sweat slipping down her forehead. Wiping them away with her wrist, she turned to see what else was on offer within the small chamber. Glancing up to the sky for a moment, she felt a small wave of shock at the sight of the magma chamber above her. Brushing it off quickly.

"This is... an interesting place," she muttered, craning her head to look at the final spot she hadn't checked out since ending up in it. Upon seeing the small altar at the other side of the room, a small exclamation of glee escaped her lips. Something that escalated as she saw the piece of dark maroon rock perched upon the top of it.

"Bingo!" she exclaimed, punching the air. "I think we have our first artefact!"

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph on the Coppinger Aerial Platform. Dogbots attack, and lose the fight._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The former rangers wave at the camera, before fading away._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"Huh," Xavier commented, looking up from the computer. "That's interesting."

"What is?" Ryan asked, glancing over. "You get a pop up telling you that you've won a years supply of Amphetamines?"

"Why would I have won a... Never mind," he said. "So, I've just got an e-mail from the TV studios in Waterfall Shores."

"Oh yeah," Luke asked. "You never been on TV before?"

"Not like this," Xavier replied. "I've got a TV interview about my win in the Verger league."

"Really?" Nahir wondered. "So... You going to do it?"  
"Maybe," he said. "In fact, probably."

"Hey, how come I didn't get one," Ryan complained, suddenly. "I came runner up behind you. At the very least, they could get us both on."

"Maybe it's because you smell of failure," Luke offered. "That's probably it. Verger Trainer Roundup only have winners on their shows. Or at best, very unfortunate losers."

"I was a very unfortunate loser!"

"Unfortunately, that's down to opinion."

"Everything like that is down to opinion."

"What are you two arguing about now?"

Looking up, everyone present saw Katie come into the room. A big chunk of maroon coloured rock in her hands, a weary smirk on her face as she held it up for all to see.

"Wow, a big rock," Luke said, sarcastically. "I'm sure all your friends are jealous. None of us have a rock that big."

"Speak for yourself," Duo replied, listlessly. "Back at home, I've got a Golem. That's a big ol' rock."

"Unless I'm very much mistaken," Katie retorted, placing it down on the table. "This is the first artifact of the Genesis Book. Found it, this morning."

"Wait, what, how?" Xavier asked. "How did you come across that?"

"Took a leap of faith into a volcano."

"Okay, if you're going to be like that then..."

* * *

"We need to try another plan," Copper said, folding his arms. "That last one failed miserably. At least our colleagues aren't doing much better."

"Maybe we should check out our bag of stones," Fuller remarked, holding it up to the light. Picking one out from the depths, she tossed it to the ground and watched it shatter. A monster quickly emerging out of the remains, yawning in response as it stretched its arms out. It was a pure white Dusclops, with the head of a Ralts above the eye. The long green hair giving it a strange appearance.

"Well, this looks like it could be interesting," Copper commented. "Now, what are you going to do?"

"I am Raltorsneak!" the monster announced, proudly. "Embodiment of deceit."

"That's handy to know," Fuller remarked. "What else can you do?"

"We have a little ranger problem, you know," Copper continued. "

"I place a curse on the blue ranger," Raltorsneak announced, his hands glowing with a bright blue energy. "Unable to lie. Unable to deny. Unable to hide anything at all."

"Without that secrecy," Fuller snickered. "They will be nothing."

As the monster finished doing what he was doing, a vial of blue liquid appeared within his hands.

"All it will take is some of this to come into contact with the blue ranger," Raltorsneak continued. "And he will be afflicted."

"Terrific," Copper said, taking out a Poké Ball of Dogbots. "We'll lure them out then. Have one of the Dogbots drop some of this stuff on him and see where it goes."

"Just out of interest," Fuller remarked. "Why just the blue ranger. Why not all six of them?"

"I can sense... Something in his personality," Raltorsneak replied. "Which makes him the ideal candidate."

"That's good enough for me, then," Copper said, walking to the window and hurling the container out of it. The container vanishing from the table after them.

* * *

"Rangers!" Bill said, looking around at them. "We've got a situation. Dogbots in Waterfall Shores."

"I'll go," Xavier offered, sticking his hand up. "I was looking for an excuse to check out the studio anyway."

"Ah, what the hell," Duo commented. "I might see what sort of people hang out around there. Kick a little Dogbot ass and have a saunter on over."

"Ever think that you guys aren't taking things as seriously as you should be?" Katie asked, half sarcastically.

"I don't think I've ever treated anything with the seriousness that it doesn't deserve," Duo replied, as he and Xavier headed for the exit.

"Be honest," the blue ranger commented, as the two of them made for the deck. Ready to morph and take the Hover Chasers to Waterfall Shores. "The only reason you want to come is that you're hoping to meet one of the female trainers who might be in and around the studios, isn't it?"

"Do you really think that's what I'm after doing?" Duo asked, shaking his head. "Honestly, I'm hurt. But, now that you mention it, it seems like a great idea."  
"No time to waste, then," Xavier said, the two of them bringing their morphers up. "Let's go."

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

As the two vehicles vanished away over the horizon, Katie turned back to look at the other rangers on the bridge, a confused look on her face.

"Why is Xavier wanting to check out a TV studio?" she asked. "Is there something that I'm missing here?"

"Ah, it'd probably be best if he told you himself," Ryan said, still sounding slightly annoyed.

* * *

"You think that they're getting any better to look at?" Duo wondered, as he and Xavier arrived onto the scene. Seeing the robots in question trashing up what had until recently been quite a picturesque street.

"Don't suppose that there's really that much wrong with Houndour," Xavier replied. The two of them having demorphed at some point between leaving the Hover Chasers and arriving on the scene. "I'll take the six on the right..."

"And I'll go on after that one on its own, over there," Duo quipped. "Let's do this!"

The two of them rushing into the action, the blue ranger ducked under a trash can thrown at his head, before kicking one in the stomach. The robot staggering back, Xavier grabbing up the thrown item and hurling it back from where it had came. The blow enough to knock the machine over and out, its head clattering away across the ground. Across from him, Duo had rolled across the surface of a bench, sending out a flying kick to knock the Dogbot closest to him away. Springing up into a standing position, he tripped the staggered robot up, before stamping into its neck. The sudden blow enough to seperate the head from the body, the black ranger quickly kicking the fallen head at another. As four of them came to surround him, he quickly turned himself invisible. Confusing them for a few seconds, until a flurry of unseen blows came out to knock them out and destroy them. Back on the other side of the street, Xavier brought out his liquified skin, the thrown strikes bouncing off his body from the two Dogbots in front of him. As they took a break, he reached out and crashed their heads together. As their metallic ears got entwined with each other, they each tried to run out away from the other in order to untangle. Their heads being completely wrenched off by the force.

"Guess you should have kept your heads," Xavier commented, turning to see how Duo was doing. Only to see a glass vial hit him square in the stomach, the thing shattering on impact, a strange blue liquid exploding out all over him. As he took a deep breath to try and work out what had just happened, Duo came steaming through out of nowhere and hit the machine with a jump kick. The blow throwing it back through the air, hitting a wall across from the two of them. Hard.

"You okay?" the black ranger wondered. "It wasn't acid, was it?"

"Nah, I don't know what it was," Xavier replied. "But, I think I'm fine. I don't feel any different."

* * *

"That was interesting," Duo commented, the two of them coming out of the studio. "Some very interesting talent in there. I'll definitely be coming back here when..."

"Seriously, mate," Xavier said, looking annoyed. "Are you coming for some moral support, or because you want to get your end away? Bury the Growlithe, hide the Grumpig etc. You get where I'm going, right? Which is it?"  
"Can't it be both?" Duo asked, taking it in his stride. "That's a little blunt for you, isn't it?"

"I... I don't know why I said that."

"Well, I'd be worried if you're blurting out random things then," Duo said. "Could get us all into trouble?"

"Worried that I'm going to blow all our secret identities?"

"Partly."

* * *

"So, want to tell me what you guys were doing?"

The question came from Katie, the red ranger leaning back in one of the recliners that had been introduced into the bridge of the Silver Gyarados. Elsewhere in the room, the other rangers were surrounding Bill who was looking at something through a microscope.

"I'm not annoyed," she continued. "Just curious. I'm not the chewing out type."

"That's a relief to know," Duo quipped, before Xavier spoke up.

"I got invited to go on VTR," he said. "So, I went over, signed the contract and am going on in the next few days to talk about my win in the Verger league."

"Cool," Kate said, looking around at the blue ranger. Her smile quickly fading as if she were to make a serious point. "If they ask you any questions about SDI, deny everything."

"You just know that's going to come up at some point," Luke remarked, craning his head around to look at them. "Because, the media are the real bad guys in the world."

"You can't honestly believe that," Nahir commented. "If you do..."

"Hey, you've been forcing what you think on us for the last year," Luke retorted. "Battling is a pointless exercise and all that. Well, I have a gripe with the media after they took several pot shots at my Dad's company. They claimed he hired illegal immigrants from Orre to work in the factory."

"Wasn't that true?" Katie asked, her attention momentarily diverted. "Because when they tried to interview someone, he spoke with a broad Orre accent."

"Yeah, because Orre is full of shameless stereotypes," Duo commented. "It can be annoying."

"Anyway, they picked the one person from Orre in the entire factory," Luke said, shaking his head. "Took that as irrefutable evidence. Then they claimed that the early airline business that we were trying to set up was being birthed by buying reconditioned old planes and cutting back on safety checks."

"I remember that," Bill said, looking up from the microscope. "Didn't one crash on its maiden flight?"

"Yeah, but there was nobody in it," Luke replied. "The pilot got out of there. That was because a Swellow flew into the windshield and distracted him. By the time he'd managed to get some visibility, the controls had jammed and he was on a collision course with a mountain."

"Didn't the insurance pay out a whacking great sum soon after?" Bill asked, innocently. "Anyway, I can see why you might be annoyed. Wasn't he going to threaten them with legal action?"  
"He did," Luke replied. "Anyway, how are you doing with the artefact?"

"Ah, the artefact," Xavier said, walking over to see what was going on. "Got to be honest with you, when I first saw it earlier, I thought it was just a useless hunk of rock."

"You wouldn't be wrong," Bill remarked. "It's not part of the Genesis Book. It's just a plain old Magma Rock."

"Ha!" Luke yelled. "That's got to be gutting! That's brilliant! You thought that you had something rare, but it's just..."

"That said..." Bill interrupted. "Whenever it has come into close contact with the stones in your morphers, AKA, whenever you've walked by, something in it has reacted. So, I'm going to make an assumption that the thing will react when in the presence of an artefact. Or one artefact in particular. I don't have a clue."

"So, we've just got to cover every blade of grass in the region," Nahir said, breezily. "That shouldn't take too long."

"Are you joking?" Xavier asked. "That'll take forever!"

"Just trying to cut a little ice," she replied, blinking slightly at his reaction. "What's up with you?"

"He's been like that for a while," Duo offered, helpfully. "Ever since we cleaned the clocks of those Dogbots, and one of them threw something over him. Just telling the absolute honest truth about everything."

"Well, that's bad," Katie said. "Xavier..."

"I still don't think that there's anything wrong with me," the blue ranger protested. "You're making a lot of fuss about nothing."

"One way to find out if there's anything wrong with him," Luke said. "Xavier, why were you being an asshole a couple of weeks ago?"

"Because I felt useless over the whole thing about not being leader any more," he replied, quickly. A worried look passing across his face as he finished. "And, I resented that. Took my eye off the ball."

"What's your view on the Silver Gyarados?" Bill asked. "What did you think when you first saw it?"

"Holy crap, holy crap, if we get on that, we're going to die. It looks a right piece of crap."

"Well, you wouldn't be too wrong about that," Bill said, taking it in his stride. "It's meant to look like that from the outside."

"Errr... This is making me feel really uncomfortable," Xavier replied. "Can you stop..."

"Have you ever had any intense dreams about any of the female rangers you've met or worked with?" Luke said, smirking at him.

"Yeah..." he said, glaring at the purple ranger. "Four of them."

"Four!" Duo exclaimed. "Go on!"

"Are you asking me who?" Xavier asked. "Please, for the love of Arceus, don't."

"Okay, guys, calm it down," Katie said. "He obviously feels uncomfortable."

"I wouldn't be," Duo remarked, as Luke nodded in agreement.

"Luke, knock it off," Xavier warned. "Or do you want me to recount something that you told me in the Aquabase last year?"

"So, you can't lie," Luke quickly replied. "How are you going to get out of this."

"You want to try some mild panic?" Ryan offered, helpfully. "That usually..."

"I can't lie!" Xavier exclaimed, pacing up and down in agitation. "This is bad!"

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Nahir wondered. "You could be lying."

"Why would I lie about not being able to lie?" he retorted. "Oh jeez... If they ask me anything about SDI on TV..."

"Just cancel," Luke said. "Tell them that you're tracking down a Celebi."

"I signed a contract," Xavier replied. "I break that, they can sue me. If they're doing that, I won't be able to focus on fighting the Coppingers."  
"Well, this is a problem," Bill said. "What happened?"

"Like I said, a Dogbot splashed me with something," Xavier replied. "So..."

"Everyone just calm down," Lance said. "Before we panic, we should see if its permanent. Come back in the morning, and if we don't have the answer then, start to worry."

* * *

"So, what do you really think?"

Acknowledging the question, Lance glanced over to Katie. A tired look on his face, as he opened his mouth to speak.

"I think it may well be obvious that this probably isn't going to go away overnight," he said. "So, that leaves us with the problem to deal with in the morning."

"We are so screwed," Bill said. "Our only option is to break the curse before Xavier goes on camera. That's all we can do."

"I still think that we should burn down the studio," Katie commented. "Quick and easier."

"Arson isn't the answer here," Lance remarked. "We need to track down what did this, pronto."

"I was only joking," Katie admitted. "What about you, Lance? Can't you do anything? Go in and say that you need Xavier's urgent help with something on a top secret fact finding mission?"

"Have you ever tried negotiating with TV executives?" Lance wondered. "It can turn violent at times."

"Why can't one of them turn out to be a vicious Coppinger monster?" Bill asked. "Then that could solve the problem."

"Guys," Katie said, rolling her eyes. "Not every problem has to be solved with violence. Just most of the problems that we face. Bill, I need you to run a trace of some of the liquid left on Xavier's clothes. See if you can pin down where it came from. Then, if you can get enough, see if you can run a sweep across the region for the source of it."

"That is actually a good idea," Lance remarked. "And assuming that this is the work of some diabolical Coppinger monster, what when we find it."  
"Then we go with violence. You really have to ask?"

* * *

"Greetings, welcome to Waterfall Studios."

Glancing up at the woman, Xavier gave her a weak smile. Seeing a reflection of how weak it just was exactly in her brown eyes, giving himself a mental kick at the way he looked. Even her bottle green uniform seemed to be mocking him, the blue ranger unable to stop himself glancing at her name tag. Upon which he read the name Claudia.

"Hello," he said, watching her reach up to pat her dirty blond coloured hair. "The name's Xavier Jackson. I'm going to..."

"Ah, Mr. Jackson," she said, brightly. "On behalf of everyone here, another welcome to the studios. Do you have your pass?"

Reaching into his pocket, he brought the item in question up. Watching her take it, wondering exactly why it was exactly that she looked familiar.

"Can I ask you a question?" the blue ranger asked, already kicking himself at the way that he was blurting it out. "You look a lot like someone I met in the past. A long time ago in the past. Any relation?"

"I've been on TV," Claudia replied, her eyes grinning at his discomfort. "I get that a lot. I used to have my own sitcom."

"You get cancelled?"

"Yes..." she replied, her grin vanishing. "Thanks for that. Can I show you to the green room?"

"Well, I don't quite know where it is," Xavier admitted. "I'm not really versed with..."

"I can show you," the attendant insisted. "Just follow me please."

Starting to follow her, Xavier just kept his mouth shut. Not wanting to trust what might come out, if he spoke.

* * *

"He's on in three hours," Katie warned, pacing up and down the bridge of the Silver Gyarados. "We're desperately running out of time."

"I wouldn't say desperately," Bill replied. "I'd say we're about half an hour away from desperate."

"Well, I'm getting worried," she retorted. "We need to track this thing down right now. It's now or never. Give or take half an hour."

"I'm still scanning," the PokéManiac protested. "It takes a while. And..."

"If it comes down to it," Ryan offered. "You think we could interrupt the program? Before he gets asked anything more damaging than, what is your name?"  
"What if I ran in and stole the camera?" Nahir said. "That might..."

"It won't delay them for long," Lance replied. "Besides, Katie suggested burning the place down earlier..."

"You did?" Duo asked, his face lighting up. "That's awesome! But, I do have a better suggestion."

"This ought to be good," Luke quipped. "What are you thinking?"

"Kidnap the host," he said. "Delay as much as possible. See how much we can..."

"What about a huge man eating plant?" Ryan offered. "That's..."

"Guys, these are all helpful suggestions," Katie said. "But, none of them are practical. Or legal."  
"So, what do you think we should do then?" Luke wondered. "Sit around on our hands while Xavier gives away every single secret that we have?"

"There's a chance that he might not do that," Katie replied. "Now, we're going to give Bill as much time as possible. If we look like we're going to run out of time, then we go with all of the above. Kidnap the host, steal a few cameras, make some chairs levitate... No man eating plant though. Desperate times call for desperate measures."

"Let's hope it doesn't get to that," Nahir said. "We just don't need the publicity."

"I can't be the only one who finds that statement ironic, considering where Xavier is," Lance remarked, a slight shrill beep ringing out from the computer in front of Bill. "Think you've got mail."

"Indeed, we've got a match," Bill said, his eyes lighting up as he glanced down at his screen. "And, it's coming... This is interesting."

"What is?" Ryan wondered, switching his focus over to where the PokéManiac was sat. "Where is it? He? She? It again?"

"This is going to be a barrel of laughs," Bill replied. "Whatever it is... It's at the TV studios in Waterfall Shores."  
"You sure you're not picking up Xavier?" Katie asked. "Because..."

"That would be just about typical," Luke finished. "You spend six hours tracking something, and then you completely..."

"It's not Xavier."

"Oh, okay then."

* * *

Perched nervously in a chair in the green room, Xavier heard the door open up in front of him. A technical director with green hair sticking his head into the room.

"Everything okay, Mr. Jackson?" he asked. "You look a little nervous."

"Suppose I am," he replied. "Really really nervous."

"Well, I can imagine why," the man remarked, striding into the room. His body changing into that of Raltorsneak. "It's not every day that you're about to reveal your secret on TV."

"Let me guess," Xavier retorted, taking up a fighting stance. "You're the asshole who did this to me."

"Guilty," he replied. "Couldn't help but take the chance opportunity to swing by and say hello."

"Then, that's the mistake that you'll never make again," Xavier roared, jumping forward to attack. Desperate to try and strike out at the monster, Raltorsneak grabbing him by the leg and twisting him to the ground.

"That's not in the script," he commented. "You're supposed to..."

Jumping up from the prone position, Xavier hit him in the face. The monster letting out a frustrated snarl of anger

"Supposed to what?" the blue ranger said, sarcastically. "Come on, take it like a monster!"

Without hesitating, Raltorsneak brought up his arm, the skin glowing with a bright blue light. Throwing Xavier back through the air, he let out another growl.

"Knocking you down a couple of pegs might be enjoyable," he remarked. "Nothing like a few bruises to add authenticity for your story."

"You're forgetting one thing," Xavier shot back. "I destroy you, we'll see what happens!"

Bringing his morpher up, he couldn't help but smirk at the monster.

"Genesis Overload!"

Morphing into his suit, he threw out another fighting stance. Ready to battle against the threat in front of him.

"This shall make no difference," Raltorsneak said, dismissively.

* * *

"Okay, where do you think this thing is?" Ryan asked, the other five rangers walking into the back of the studio. "And, can we...?"

Right on cue to interrupt him, a flailing Xavier came crashing through a window above the stage. Crashing to the ground, groaning in pain. Everyone else in the studio looking up to see what was going on up in the air. Their curiosity turning to fear as Raltorsneak began to float down through the air, laughing at them.

"Guess we've found what we were looking for," Nahir said. "Anyway, excuse me one moment."

Turning to go back the way she had came, she darted through the door. Returning back several seconds later, a computer disc in her hand. Snapping it in half, she dropped the remains to the ground and looked at the other rangers. Seeing their looks of surprise.

"What?"

"Want to explain that?" Duo wondered.

"Later," she replied, folding her arms. "Anyway, are we going to..."

"Need to get people out of here," Katie said, spotting a fire alarm in front of them. Bringing her hand up, she directed an intense wave of heat towards it. Instantly setting the thing off, the watching masses starting to file out of the studio.

Across on the stage, Xavier had managed to get to his feet and was circling the monster in front of him. Both of them ready to strike at a moments notice, their eyes focused on each other. Deciding to act first, the blue ranger brought his Genesis Blaster up, firing several times at the monster. The large hands came up, deflecting the shots up into the ceiling, damaging several lights above them. Using the moment, Xavier darted in and struck out with a roundhouse kick. The blow staggering Raltorsneak, the monster reacting faster by throwing the blue ranger back with a Psychic attack. As the last of the watching audience began to file on out, the other rangers came over to help him up.

"Thanks, guys," he said. "You came along. I appreciate it."

"We know you mean it as well," Luke quipped. "You want some help?"

"Ah, why not," Xavier replied. "If you're not doing anything."

"Let's do it," Katie said, taking a step forward. "Genesis Overload!"

Morphing into their costumes, the five of them took up fighting stances around Xavier. Raltorsneak rolling his eye, throwing out his hands to direct another Psychic attack at them. All of them falling back under the influence of the attack, only Xavier remaining alone against the monster.

"They'll interfere," the monster taunted. "Come on, face me!"

"If that's what you want," Xavier said, his Trident appearing in his hand. "Let's do this!"

Jumping up into the air, his weapon began to glow with a bright blue light. Droplets of water dripping down onto the ground, as he slashed out at the monster.

"Waterfall!"

Striking Raltorsneak in the body with the blow, the monster let out a growl of pain. Trying to throw Xavier back with a Psychic attack, he was interrupted with several bursts of fire hitting him in the upper body. Katie having got back up and brought out her Heat Blasters.

"Spread the fun around a little," she said. "It's nice to share."

As Raltorsneak made to try and throw another attack at her, Xavier reacted faster. Striking out five, six, seven, eight times with his Trident, the blows enough to floor him. Leaping forward, Katie quickly brought her two weapons together into the formation of the Flareon Battle Rifle. Aiming it at the weakened monster, she quickly pulled the trigger. A massive fiery form a Flareon erupting out of the barrel, charging along the ground towards the monster, growing as it moved. Smashing into the weak form of Raltorsneak, the monster was instantly obliterated by the strike.

* * *

"Oh dear dear dear," Fuller commented, folding her arms. "Another one bites the dust. These monsters aren't very good, are they?"

As if to silence Copper, and prove her wrong, a ball of blue light erupted out of the bag. Escaping up into the air.

* * *

Hitting the remains of Raltorsneak, the monster reformed and reappeared outside the TV studios. Growing to a giant size, the rangers who had followed him outside were greeted with a powerul burst of laughs.

"Guess we're going up a level," Katie commented. "As if there was any doubt."

"Time to transform!" Xavier said, the six of them quickly growing and turning into their Eevee forms. "Let's do this! Overload Zords! Megazord formation!"

Under the command, the six Zords turned into their robot forms and began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbs and tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. As the Megazord stood up straight, it stretched out its arms.

"You can't stop me!" Raltorsneak howled. "I'll destroy you!"

"That sounds like a challenge," Xavier shouted. "Let's see how you plan to do it compared to all the other morons we've faced."

"Gladly!" Raltorsneak retorted, his hand raising up. Blasting them with a burst of psychic type energy, the Megazord being thrown back through the air by the blast. Crashing to the ground, the rangers letting out shouts of shock as their giant robot skidded across the earth.

"Anyone have a suggestion for the Genesis Blaster?" Xavier asked. "Anyone at all?"

"Why don't we try first?" Nahir wondered. "We'll pull our trick and see how he reacts."

"Go for it!" Katie called. "Give it to him!"

"No time like the present," Luke commented. As he and Nahir activated their controls, the rays of sunlight began to beam down onto the Espeon arm, while bolts of lightning crackled down into the Jolteon arm. As both arms came up, they unleashed a combination of lightning and psychic type energy towards Raltorsneak, the monster bellowing in pain as he was blasted by the attack.

"Not enough to destroy him!" Xavier exclaimed, anger in his voice. "We need more power!"

"I'll give you power!" the monster screamed, firing a Shadow Ball towards them. The attack striking them square in the stomach, knocking them back several steps. "You'll regret this!"

"I regret nothing!" Katie said, punching a button in front of her. "Genesis Blaster! Dark Pulse!"

At the command, the blaster-like weapon came up from its container in the Vaporeon leg. As the Overload Megazord aimed it at Raltorsneak, a blast of dark type energy streamed out towards the monster. The blasts exploding across his body, their opponent let out a weakened groan as he dropped down to one knee.

"You want to do the honours?" Katie asked, looking over at the blue ranger. "Be my guest."

"Gladly," Xavier replied, hitting a button in front of him. "Genesis Staff."

As the weapon appeared in the hands of the giant robot, the blue ranger couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.

"Time to say goodbye," he said. "And you know I'm not lying. Element Overload!"

Straight away, the weapon came up, the blade glowing with a bright shade of energy. Slashing out in six more shades, red, black, blue, green, yellow and purple. As the final cut struck against his body, Raltorsneak let out a howl of pain, before collapsing to the ground. Instantly exploding in a wave of fire, the rangers starting to cheer as his remains vanished. Offering high fives to each other, Xavier couldn't help but breath a little easier.

* * *

"So, where did you vanish off to earlier?" Luke wondered, looking over to Nahir. The five of them having slipped themselves into the audience as the people returned to the studio for the interview. "Before we were about to go and help Xavier?"

"Well, I saw that he'd morphed," the yellow ranger replied. "So, I thought I'd just go and check that he wasn't caught on camera. And when I saw that there was one in the green room with the smashed windows, I went to the main camera room and got the footage. Smashing the disc."

"That's surprisingly pragmatic," Katie remarked, reaching into the pocket of the long black jacket. Running her fingers across the surface of the Magma Rock that she'd picked up earlier. "We survived a minor crisis here, and that was some quick thinking."

"Guess it's not just quick legs that you've got," Luke commented. Taking a strange look from Nahir, as she tried to wonder whether he was being complimentary or not.

"And, I know that we're making progress," Katie continued. "Hopefully, this little rock can lead us to one of the artefact's. Because we've got nothing else to go on."

"We'll find them," Ryan said. "At least, as far as we know, the Coppingers are having about as much luck as we are."

* * *

"Okay, I'm here," Xavier said, running into the green room. "Sorry about that... When I saw that thing, I panicked."

"This from a former Poké Ranger," one of them crew members commented, sarcastically. Some mild laughter ringing up.

"Well, I'm not any more," Xavier replied. Never appreciating the ability to lie more than he did right now.

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**So, yeah. The last of the first lot of ranger specific chapters. And what's the deal with the rock that Katie found?**

**Anyway, Xavier managed to break the curse and... Please note, not all TV studio's are like that. This is just an extreme example.**

**Okay, so thanks for the reviews. All appreciated completely.**

**The next chapter... Cobra Cabana. Preview is below. Introduces another group of villains for the fic. Yeah, there's a lot of villains here. Would be the point I'm making. Still, I suppose it's different.**

**Digressing, that should be up at some point in the next few days.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Please!**

**Okay, so... Xavier is going to reply for this chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter Nine, Cobra Cabana, preview.**

**Dennis: Time to take a new approach.**

**Arbok: Are you sure?**

**Bill: I'm picking up some strange energy readings.**

**Ryan: What are they?**

**?: Cobra Red!**

**?: Cobra Black!**

**?: Cobra Blue!**

**?: Cobra Green!**

**?: Cobra Yellow!**

**?: Cobra Purple!**

**Duo: Are they... rangers?**

* * *

**Coming soon...**


	9. Cobra Cabana

Chapter Nine. Cobra Cobana.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As Katie discovered a Magma Rock in a strange portal under Mount Hielo, she took it to Bill, who told her that it wasn't one of the artifacts of the Genesis Book. Meanwhile, Xavier agreed to go on TV about his win in the Verger league, something that became a problem when a monster summoned by Copper and Fuller cursed him with complete honesty. Unable to lie at all. As the other rangers desperately tried to find a way of saving him, he went to the studio. Where he was attacked by Raltorsneak, everyone converging there to battle the monster. In no time at all, they managed to destroy him twice and watch Xavier's interview. Katie revealing that she was carrying the Magma Rock around with her as a clue for the location of an artefact..._

* * *

"Have you got anything yet?" Luke wondered, as Katie walked out onto the bridge of the Silver Gyarados. Dropping her soaking wet coat out onto one of the chairs, she gave him a dirty look before offering a simple reply.

"Nope."

"Okay, no need to be like that," he said. "Just asking."

"I've been walking around in the rain for the last six hours to try and find a resonance with the Magma Rock," she replied, still annoyed. "And I've got nothing. Not even sure if it's in the right city. There's a stack across this region. It might not even be in a city. I'm freaking out here."

"Aww," Duo remarked, appearing out of nowhere. Both the red and purple rangers giving him strange looks. "I think someone needs a hug."

"I think that someone who thinks that this someone needs a hug might regret it if that someone tries to do that," Katie warned. "And I just confused myself..."

"Too many someones," Luke said. "Can't you just call the said someone Duo? For instance?"

"I could, but I'm really not in the mood right now," she replied. "I just want to hit the shower, warm up a bit and then head back out again."

"Don't you think that some of us could do that job?" Duo wondered. "I mean... It's not something hard to do. A Mankey could do it. He could do it."

"Hey!" Luke protested, spotting the black ranger gesturing at him. "What's the big idea?"

"I'm not comparing you to a Mankey," Duo replied. "I'm just making a point that all sorts could do it. Making a list. You're the one who jumped to the conclusion that I was."

"Jeez, calm down you two," Katie muttered, heading for the exit. "I'm really not in the mood."

"So," Luke asked, as she vanished away. "What were you doing lurking in the corner of the room while invisible?"

"I was bored."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph on the Coppinger Aerial Platform. Dogbots attack, and lose the fight._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The former rangers wave at the camera, before fading away._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"This is starting to get annoying. All I can tell you so far, is where it isn't," Katie said, pausing to sneeze. Letting out a following groan shortly after, the other rangers looking over at her with surprise. "And it's not in Eon City."

"Well, that does make some substantial sense," Bill commented. "I mean, if you look over to the locations close to Mount Hielo, then that is the most likely place. Of course, it would appear that this isn't the case."

"You okay, sweetie?" Nahir asked, as the red ranger let out another sneeze.

"I think so," she replied, groggily. "Just a cold. I'll get over it."

"We have extensive medical supplies on board," Bill offered. "So, if you want some sort of remedy then..."

"I'll keep that in mind," she replied. "But, where else do we have? If it's not in Eon City then..."

"There's Lassana City," Ryan offered. "Agueros Town. Holimar City's fairly close in relative terms of the region."

"Well, how hard can it be to check them all?" Xavier asked. "Without getting flu."

"Oh ha ha."

* * *

Striding into the makeshift laboratory that Arbok had set up in the location that they had found to hide out in, Dennis cleared his throat. The sound making the scientist look up from where he was bent over a crate of what looked like Pokémon eggs."

"Time to take a new approach," Dennis growled. "We need a new plan. The other Coppingers have failed in their attempts to either find the artefacts, or defeat the rangers. What we need is something that can do both things. Two Pidgeys with one Poké Ball."

"Are you sure?" Arbok asked. "Such things are in short supply. I think."

"What are those eggs you have there?" Dennis demanded, striding over to see what the big fascination was with the items in question. "What are they?"

"These are top quality Ekans eggs," Arbok announced, proudly. "I was going to raise them up and then sell them as pets. Just because we're mutants doesn't mean that we can't keep up with the demands of modern business."

"Oh, be quiet!" Dennis snapped. "What if we use these for something helpful. Like create six strong monsters."  
"Hmmm..." Arbok said. "Won't that be cruel to them?"

"You might have read the book of modern business, but have you read the book of modern evil?" Dennis demanded. "Our business is cruelty. Deception. Sabotage. Immoral behaviour. So, how can we make them as strong as possible? A match for the rangers if you like?"

"Well..." the scientist replied, thoughtfully. "I can think of some chemicals that are out there. Top secret ones that could drastically improve all abilities. Strength, speed, mental prowess. I just need to get some. It's in Flash laboratories in Holimar City."

"Go and get it then," Dennis ordered. "Take some Dogbots and don't come back unless you have what we need."

* * *

"You look better," Ryan commented, as a slightly healthier looking Katie walked into the room. "What's the secret? You pop some medication? Drink something hot? Oransip?"

"Oransip?" Duo asked. "Mix up some regular pain medication, add some boiling water and some exotic tasting fruit. You could make your own."

"Nothing that simple," the red ranger replied, dropping into a seat. "Just used my ability. Heated my body up and then stood under the shower with it going as hot as it will. Think I'm getting better."

"Nice," Duo remarked. "Whatever works for you."

"So, anything going on?" she asked. "Anything at all?"

"We've got nothing," Xavier reported. "At all. Just..."

As if to prove him wrong, the alarms started to ring out around the Silver Gyarados. The sound enough to force the four of them up to their feet and towards the door.

* * *

Arriving on the bridge, they found Paige, Bill, Lance, Luke and Nahir already there and waiting for them.

"What took you so long?" Luke wondered. "We've been waiting..."

"About twenty seconds," Nahir commented. "Let's not all exaggerate."

"Anyway..." Bill said, folding his arms. "We've got the activity of Dogbots in Holimar City. Plus an unidentified mutant with them. Looks like it was human once, so it might be one of the higher echelons of the Coppingers."

"Well, let's get down there then," Ryan said. "Give them a good old fashioned beating."

"Where are they?" Xavier wondered. His question prompting Bill to tap away at a few keys, the reply coming pretty quickly.

"They're at Flash laboratories," he replied. "So... they could be after anything."

"No time to waste," Duo said. "To that strangely named building at once."

"If you want to put it like that," Katie remarked, the six of them bringing their morphers up. "Genesis Overload!"

* * *

"Good, good," Arbok muttered, rifling through an array of test tubes. "These are all very good. If I can just find the right one, then..."

Tossing one back away from him, not satisfied with its contents, he heard a Dogbot let out a mechanical snap of anger at the apparent lack of concern.

"You don't even know fear or discomfort," he snapped at the robotic soldier. "So, be quiet."

"It's true. They don't know fear. But, they should!"

Spinning around in shock, Arbok saw the rangers stood at the exit to the lab. Blocking the way out.

"Welcome, rangers," he snickered. "Can't you be bothering someone else?"

"Nah, I think we're going to bother you," Katie said, sounding bored. "Put whatever ever you're trying to steal down and back away."

"I'll pass," he replied. "I've got big plans for this stuff. Dogbots, get them!"

At the command, the mechanical foot soldiers sprang into action. Moving towards the rangers at a rapid pace to engage them. Taking them slightly by surprise, the rangers were forced back by the assault, moving the way that they had come.

Foremost at the head of the group, Katie kicked out at the Dogbot in front of her. Knocking it back into some more of the group, the five of them falling down to the ground. The new room suddenly opening up, Duo, Xavier, Luke, Nahir and Ryan taking the opportunity to jump into the newly occupied space. Without hesitating, Duo punched one twice in the stomach, before kicking it up into the air. Next to him, Xavier grabbed one by the chest, to throw it at the wall. Watching it spark up into several pieces as it crashed against the clear white tiles. Kicking another Dogbot in the leg, watching it go down, Luke spun around and hit it in the face with a back kick. Across from the purple ranger, Nahir ducked under an attack thrown at her head by a mechanically salivating Dogbot and tackled it, pushing it back into a few more of the robots. Knocking them all to the ground. Finally, jumping up into the air, Ryan bounced off the wall and easily took two of the Dogbots out with an acrobatic kick.

Behind the action, Arbok had found what he was looking for and making towards the exit. As he pushed the door open, the sound of blaster fire rang out. A scorch mark appearing on the wall next to him, the Coppinger mutant turning his head to see Katie levelling one of her Heat Blasters at him. The red ranger readjusting her aim towards him, her gloved finger making to close around the trigger...

Reacting quickly, he left through the door. Hearing a barrage of shots crash into the space where he had been moments earlier, he only barely had time to breath a sigh of relief before teleporting away with the chemicals.

* * *

"Calm it down, Katie," Xavier said, the six of them having morphed out of their ranger suits in order to make a subtle exit from the scene of the battle. "So you missed him by a quarter of an inch..."

"Which is a quarter of an inch too much," she complained. "All of this makes what happens next all my fault. Which is an annoying feeling."

"Don't beat yourself up so much about it," Ryan offered. "We all had a chance of stopping him. But none of us did. Which makes us all as culpable as you. Sure, you had a clearer shot, but any one of us could have ignored the Dogbots and..."

Not really listening to him, Katie was instead focused at the suddenly hot sensation at her thigh. Digging out into the pocket of the still slightly wet coat, she brought the Magma Rock up into the air. Wincing slightly in pain at the burning feeling running down her fingers, having in her curiosity not bothered to heat up her skin.

"What's that?" Luke wondered, glancing over. "Your big hunk of rock? That you took a swan dive into a pool of lava for. Like any sane person would do."

"It's hot," she said, tossing it over to the purple ranger. Watching him wince in pain as he caught it, quickly passing it off to Duo. Who let out a groan, before shifting it over across to Ryan. Who palmed it to Xavier who dropped it.

"Wimps," Katie muttered. "It's not that hot. Not when you consider how hot I can make my skin."

"Remind me never to high five you again," Nahir quipped, dryly. "Anyway, what does this mean? With the rock getting hot and all."

"It means..." Katie said. "That we're close to whatever that thing leads us to."

* * *

"That's a relief then," Bill said, his eyes and fingers focused upon the screen in front of him. "That we at least know where to look in Holimar City. Pity about the other thing though."

"So, you don't know what it was that he stole?" Lance asked, the six rangers sat around nursing their injuries from the battle with the Dogbots. None of them badly hurt, but still covered in scrapes and bruises that had passed through their ranger uniforms.

"Didn't have time to ask," Duo said. "And it's not like he was chatty before he made a break for it."

"Can't believe I missed him," Katie muttered. "I never miss."

"Everyone misses at least once," Lance offered. "Even my Dragonite. Someone once described it as the strongest non-legendary Pokémon alive. It was a compliment, a nice one, if slightly over the top."

"When your Dragonite misses, it often doesn't have repurcussions like this," Katie shot back. "This is... Damn, I'm annoyed."

"Flash Chemical Corp," Bill said, getting something up on his screen. "I've hacked into their server. Trying to find out what they stole. It appeared to be some sort of brand new chemical compound. Highly dangerous in the wrong hands."

"Is that what it says on there?" Luke asked, with interest. "Because that would be awesome. Quick, easy to understand... And concise."

"I'm reading between the lines," Bill said. "Seriously, this is worrying. They inject some of their monsters with this stuff, we've got really big problems on our hands. It could turn an average monster into a ferocious attacking force. If it was used on something that was already powerful..."

"Like one of the Coppinger high command?" Xavier asked, going slightly pale. "That's something that we really don't need right now."

"I guess that if something bad is coming, we're going to have to deal," Duo said. "I mean... Just because it's suicide to take it head on doesn't mean that we have a choice."

"That's surprisingly responsible of you," Nahir commented. "Where's the real Duo?"

"Hey, I have a responsible streak," Duo replied. "You just don't see it very often."

"You can say that again," Ryan quipped, folding his arms behind his head. "But..."

"You just don't see it very often," Duo said, sarcastically. "So there."

* * *

"Well, I've got to confess," Dennis remarked, watching Arbok bustle around in the makeshift laboratory. Arranging and rearranging test tubes of chemicals, mixing their contents together before filling syringes with the bright purple liquid. "I never expected you to come back from that task. Especially when the rangers showed up."

"Ah, well," Arbok replied. "Give them a damn good beating before getting out of there before they can recover."

"You gave them a beating?" Dennis asked, incredulously. "What, in the sense of running away from them, screaming?"

"Well, the Dogbots distracted them," Arbok admitted. "And I made a run for it."

"Yeah, that's more the story that I'm likely to believe," the Coppinger leader commented. "So, cut the crap in future."

"I never said..." Arbok began, before thinking better of it. "Forget it."

"So, how go these wonderful warriors?" Dennis demanded. "Are they nearly ready to be born? Because..."

"I'll inject this stuff into the eggs," Arbok explained, holding a syringe up. "All the stuff I stole has been divided up into six doses. Once that has happened, we'll use the Genesis Book on the eggs. That should be enough to do what we have planned."

"Then, what are we waiting for?" Dennis asked, his voice cold. "Because, I would very much like to get it out of the way before those pesky rangers find the rest of the artefacts."

"The rest?" Arbok wondered. "For all we know, they haven't found any yet."

"Just get going on with it!" Dennis ordered. "Right now."

At the command, Arbok picked up a few of the syringes. Going through the Ekans eggs one by one, injecting them with the chemical compound that he had created using the stolen material, he finally stood back with a sad look on his face.

"Poor little eggs," he said, sadly. "Never to be..."

"Quiet!" Dennis ordered, bringing the Genesis Book up from where he had been hiding it. Somewhere that Arbok hadn't quite been able to see. Even as he was wondering where his boss had been keeping the potent item, Dennis opened the item up. Covering the six eggs in the mutating gas, the deterent within the ancient item began to clear away as the transformation process began to complete. Six large shapes emerging from out of the smoke, followed by sharp hisses of laughter.

"You know why you were created!" Dennis growled, closing the book. Trying to get a good view of what the two of them had created, the lingering smoke preventing it from happening. "Now, go forth and destroy the Poké Rangers."

"At once!" a hiss came out of the smoke. Before six flashes of colour erupted out of the smoke, bouncing away out of the fog and towards the exit.

* * *

"What's that?" Ryan wondered, his ears pricking up at the sound of the alarms ringing out aboard the Silver Gyarados. "What's going on?"

"I'm picking up some strange energy readings," Bill reported, having jumped over to the computer to see what was happening. "Very strange. Uber strange. I think the gist of this message is that they are most unusual."

"We get it," Luke commented. "You've made your point. Easily."

"Have you ever seen anything like this before?" Xavier wondered. "Like this energy reading?"

"Well, a few times," Bill admitted. "None of them have been good."

"How bad can it be?" Nahir asked. "Whatever it is, we'll deal. We always do."

"This is where you're wrong," Bill said. "The signal isn't one thing. My computer is picking up six different energy readings. All similar, but different."

"What?" Katie asked. "What do you mean?"

"Different as in the comparison between a Quagsire and a Whiscash," Bill replied. "Similar but so so different in their essence."

"Guess we better go and check them out then," Duo said, rubbing his hands together. "This ought to be interesting."

"Let's just send you then," Paige commented. "Since you look like you're going to enjoy it the most."

"We're going as a team," Katie said, quickly. "If this is as 'strange' as Bill says, then..."

"Well, you are mixing the term strange with dangerous," Nahir pointed out. "So..."

"Either way," Xavier remarked. "We need to check this out straight away."

"You ready to go?" Lance asked. "We're all waiting."

Taking a step forward as one, the six rangers brought their morphers up. Ready to activate them.

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

"Why is it always a warehouse?" Duo wondered, as the six of them ran into the large darkened building. Its frame scarred by rain, the liquid in question still streaming down all around them. "Why can't it be a sunny field? Where we can see what's going on around us."

"Oh grow up," Luke muttered. "Really not in the mood."

"When are you in the mood?" Nahir asked. "Because it seems like you're permanently in a bad mood lately."

"Can you blame me?" he asked. "I mean... We have to put up some crap with what we do. It gets annoying."

"Last time I checked, you didn't get cursed by something that forced you to tell the truth," Xavier pointed out. "So..."

"Or infected with something that made you turn into a Grimer," Nahir added. "So, cut the crap."

"Guys, are you going to argue all the way up to the top?" Katie asked. "Because, we're supposed to be stealthy here. No point letting whatever's after us..."

Before she could finish, something struck out across the darkened area. A blast of energy whistling through, striking against their bodies, throwing the six of them against a wall.

"Guess that's why we were being stealthy," Duo groaned, trying to pick himself up from the ground. "So that didn't happen."

As the rangers slowly got up, they heard the sound of footsteps. What sounded like six sets of heavy boots moving across the wooden floor. Peering out through the darkness...

"Holy damn!" Katie said, the six unseen figures appearing finally in view. "That's impossible..."

Each one of the figures was humanoid. Clad in a set of coloured armour, not so dissimilar to ranger armour. One was red, one was black, one was green, one was blue, one was yellow and one was purple. The belt, boots and gloves were white, the finger tips and ends on the gloves the same as the colour of the uniform. The same colouring was on a line of squares at the top of the boots, while the soles were also that same colour. On the shoulders of their uniform, there were white guards, while there was a pattern on the stomach. The same design as the pattern on an Arbok's hood. The six figures all wearing the exact same helmets, similar to the ones that the rangers wore. Rectangular visors, silver mouthpieces and an Arbok design at the top.

"What are they?" Ryan asked, taking a step back in surprise. The six shapes in front of them slowly turning to face them, each of them uttering out something. The hanging phrase spookily resembling a battle cry. Their voices more a collective hiss than clear speech.

"Cobra Red!"

"Cobra Black!"

"Cobra Blue!"

"Cobra Green!"

"Cobra Yellow!"

"Cobra Purple!"

"Are they... rangers?" Duo asked, unable to quite believe what he was seeing in front of him. "This can't be good."

"They might be friendly," Nahir said. "Is this another..."

"What do you think, Katie?" Xavier piped up. "Anything to be worried about?"

"Everything is something to be worried about," she said, a hand dropping to her waist. Her fingers closing around the holster of one of her Heat Blasters. "Until we know otherwise."

"Are you friendly?" Nahir called to the creatures in front of them. The six of them reacting to the sound of her voice, focusing in on the yellow ranger. Something that was almost enough to force Nahir into flinching back under their gaze.

"We are the Cobra Rangers," Cobra Red hissed. "And we are your worst nightmare."

"You don't know what my worst nightmare is," Ryan challenged. "So, there!"

"Shall we find out," Cobra Green shot back, one of his hand coming up to make a taunting gesture at Ryan. "Come on, green ranger. Make my day."

"We going to fight them?" Luke asked, his voice surprisingly impassive. "Just checking..."

"They don't look friendly," Katie remarked. "But..."

Interrupting her while she spoke, Cobra Red let out another battle cry. Rallying his troops, the other Cobra Rangers reacting instantly.

"Attack!"

"Rock and roll!" Katie shouted, the six enemy rangers charging towards the rangers. "Let's do it."

* * *

Meeting Cobra Black first, Duo threw a punch at his evil coloured counterpart. The evil ranger dodging the strike, ducking under it to kick the black ranger in the stomach. Thrown back by the blow, Duo let out a yelp of pain. Recovering quickly to hold another kick aimed at him, he tried to twist Cobra Black to the ground. His opponent easily preventing the attack, sweeping his hand up to grab Duo by the throat. Reacting quickly, Duo jumped up, the strike hitting him in the stomach. Doubling over in pain, he tried to tackle Cobra Black back, the evil ranger using his momentum to throw him against a wall.

Nearby, Xavier was struggling with Cobra Blue. Having punched his blue wearing opponent five times in the helmet, the Cobra shrugged every single one of them off and grabbed Xavier by the shoulders. Forcing him down to the ground, his knee came up to smash against the blue ranger's face. Xavier's head being forced back by the strike, Cobra Blue following back with a powerful roundhouse kick to the blue ranger's upper body.

Across the field, Cobra Yellow had grabbed Nahir into an arm lock. Twisting the yellow ranger around up into the air, Nahir letting out a yell of surprise, the powerful arm came up to strike the airborne yellow ranger in the stomach. The strike throwing her through the air, where she crashed against a support pillar. Cracking the stone structure slightly as she hit it, Nahir barely had time to recover before the again attacking Cobra Yellow picked her up by the throat and propped her up against the pillar. Bringing her free hand up, repeatedly throwing punches into the defenseless yellow ranger.

Meanwhile, Ryan was engaging Cobra Green. The two figures circling each other warily for a moment, before the green ranger struck out with a kick. His strike hitting Cobra Green in the stomach, the Cobra ranger growling in pain before striking out with a pair of powerful fist strikes. The twin blows sending Ryan reeling, his pain and confusion compounded by the follow up roundhouse kick. Recovering quickly as he hit the ground, he swept his leg out to try and take down Cobra Green. The enemy reacting quickly to remove his leg from striking distance, hopping over the outstretched leg and kicking Ryan in the side. The green ranger rolling across the floor, groaning in pain.

Having his hands full with Cobra Purple, Luke aimed a roundhouse kick at her head. The Cobra easily parrying the blow, pushing his leg up even higher to dislodge his balance. As he struggled to regain it, she dropped down to the ground, kicking his already unsteady legs out from underneath him. As the purple ranger hit the ground, she brought her foot up into the air, intent on slamming it down into his face. Quickly throwing himself aside, Luke heard the sound of shattering wood ring out through the warehouse. Springing up to his feet, he slammed a punch into her stomach, watching the Cobra double over in apparent pain. His momentary elation vanishing as she reached out, grabbed his arm and flipped him to the ground. Kicking him away in the side much in the way that Cobra Green had done to Ryan.

Finally, Katie was trying to deal with Cobra Red. The taunting figure evading her strikes, retaliating with swift ones of his own. As her kick passed through empty air, he reached out, pushing her leg away. Slamming a palm into her upper body, the sudden and powerful strike throwing her back through the air where she crashed against a wall. Not letting up, Cobra Red continued on to follow up with his attacks. Throwing a punch at her head, the red ranger jerked her body to the side, evading the attack. Seeing Cobra Red's strike smash through the concrete surface, the evil ranger let out a roar of pain at his predicament. Taking advantage of his situation, Katie jumped up and kicked him twice in the stomach. Watching him double over, she brought both hands down onto his back, surprised as he quickly reared up like a furious Ursaring. His fists flying out to claw her away, forcing her back. Now seething with rage, he went on the attack. More blows coming her way, Katie was finally overwhelmed by her efforts to block and dodge. Being forced back by the powerful blow, hitting the ground next to the other battered rangers.

"Everyone okay?" she asked, trying to get up to her feet. "We need to..."

"You're not so tough," Cobra Red commented, snidely. "I thought that you'd be a challenge. Oh well..."

"Time for the Terror Cannon," Cobra Black snickered, the six Cobras lining up in two lines of three. A huge purple weapon appearing in the gap between them, shaped like an outstretched Arbok. The six of them levelling the weapon at the grounded rangers.

"Aww man," Luke complained. "This isn't good."

"Terror Cannon!" Cobra Red shouted. "Fire!"

At the command, the opened mouth of the Arbok-shaped cannon began to glow with a bright purple light. Quickly firing out its load towards the rangers, all six of them being thrown back against the wall by the sheer powerful force of the blast. Hitting the stone surface, cracks being left against the sheer surface by the blast, they began to demorph out of their suits.

"Awww, look at them," Cobra Yellow said, her voice sarcastic. "They're almost too pathetic to destroy."

"Our objective was to defeat them," Cobra Purple pointed out. "We have done that."

"Heed this warning, Poké Rangers," Cobra Green demanded, pointing at them. "This time, we will let you go."

"But, if you cross our paths again, we will obliterate you," Cobra Blue finished. No sooner than had done so, the six of them began to teleport away.

* * *

"Man," Duo complained. "Those things are serious. The Cobra Rangers. Like we don't have enough to worry about."

"This is indeed a problem," Bill said. "I have heard of evil rangers before... Single evil rangers are fairly common. But, a team of them... That's less common. There was a group of them in Hoenn several months ago..."

"I think that Tara mentioned them to me," Paige piped up. "She told me that they were nasty."

"And," Bill continued, ignoring her. "Dorlinda also informed me that there will be another group in the future. I don't think that there's any sure way for you to defeat them easily. You'll just have to be as strong as possible, be compact as a team and try and find their weaknesses."

"If that's all it takes..." Luke groaned. "Jeez!"

"We can defeat them," Katie said. "It's not a sprint, it's a marathon. One defeat doesn't win you a war..."

"Unless your first attack is a good one and completely takes out all your figureheads, generals and high command," Duo pointed out. "Then..."

"That hasn't happened though," Nahir reminded him. "We're still here, aren't we?"

"For now," Ryan said, before managing a weak grin. "But, we can do this. I'm almost sure of it."

"Well, it's a relief that you're almost sure of it," Katie quipped. "Come on guys, let's all pull together and make sure that we do better the next time they strike. If you'll pardon the pun."

* * *

"You failed to destroy the rangers!" Dennis said, looking at the six Cobra Rangers in front of him. "You had them in your sight, ready and waiting to be slaughtered. And you retreated. Letting them go."

"Our powers were weakening," Cobra Purple retorted. "Over time, we will grow stronger. Stronger and stronger. Is only early days yet."

"We will destroy them soon," Cobra Blue continued, folding his arms. "Your worry is unfounded."

"If you let them go again," Dennis hissed, his voice a pretty good imitation of the voice of the Cobras. "I will personally destroy all six of you. I do not tolerate failure."

"Something that you're well used to by now, I expect," Cobra Black commented. "We were created to destroy. Which is what we'll do."

"You talk big," Dennis growled. "But, why should I believe you."

"These are fine creations, Dennis," Arbok offered. "Some of my finest work. They'll do the job."

"We'll do a job," Cobra Red snarled. "Forget it, Dennis. You don't appreciate us, we'll go our own way."

"What!" the Coppinger leader roared. "You would dare to betray me?"

"We would," Cobra Yellow said. "Because when we find those artefacts, we will come for you."

"When we create our own new world," Cobra Green snickered. "Maybe we'll even let you live. But probably not."

"Let's leave these losers alone," Cobra Red remarked, the six of them heading for the exit. "Time to get out of here."

"We created you!" Dennis roared. "We can destroy you!"

"Then do it," Cobra Blue taunted. "Personally, we don't think that you do. Being of a collective mind."

"Damn, how did they know?" Arbok wondered. Flinching slightly under the dirty look from Dennis.

"Filthy filthy traitors," the Coppinger leader muttered. "Just as I was thinking about the best way to betray them when they no longer became useful as well."

"They will be a problem," Arbok pointed out. "They are powerful. They were created that way."

"Now, I have two sets of rangers running around," Dennis groaned. "All my problems keep on growing."

Letting out a final sigh, he turned and began to head for his own part of their hideout. His final weary words ringing out through the damp air.

"I really hope they destroy each other."

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Evil rangers... Yeah...**

**It's really not going to get any easier. Especially for the rangers, but the bad guys might have it tough as well. Especially with the Cobra's out for blood.**

**But, at leas they know where to go for the first artefact now. Which will be the focus next chapter...**

**Anyway, thanks for the review (s?). Appreciated. A lot.**

**For now, this is the full range of bad guys revealed for the story.**

**Okay, so next one is entitled Never Burn Away. Preview below, up soon.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review. I mean it, please! Arbok will be replying to reviews for this chapter.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Ten, Never Burn Away, preview.**

**Xavier: What are we going to do about the Cobras?**

**Katie: Never mind them at the moment. We've got a lead.**

**Bill: So, it's in Holimar City.**

**Dennis: The Cobras have betrayed us! If they get in your way, destroy them all.**

**?: Will do.**

**Duo: Real tug of war here.**

**Cobra Red: Silent Strike Megazord.**

**Luke: Holy crap, that's not fair.**

**Katie: The first artefact!**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	10. Never Burn Away

Chapter Ten. Never Burn Away.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As Katie tried to use the Magma Rock to find one of the artefacts, she almost lost heart because of her failures while wandering around in the pouring rain. Meanwhile, Dennis and Arbok put a plan of their own into motion, after the failures of all the other Coppingers. Using a batch of Ekans eggs, in addition to some chemicals that the rangers failed to prevent them from stealing, and the Genesis Book, the two evil Coppingers managed to summon and create their own brand of rangers, the Cobras. Meanwhile, when in Holimar City, Katie noticed her Magma Rock getting hot. Finally, Dennis and Arbok unleashed the Cobra Rangers out onto the regular rangers. The Genesis Rangers easily being defeated by their evil counterparts, but they weren't destroyed despite being defenseless. As they tried to regroup back at the Silver Gyarados, the Cobras turned on Dennis and went their own way..._

* * *

"Come on! One, two, one, two, one, two, one..."

Still yelling out the commands, Lance felt the almost constant impact of Duo's fists out onto the boxing pads held out in front of him. Giving it one final strike, the black ranger took a step back. The Dragon Master dropping the pads to his side.

"Not that I don't admire your efforts of redoubling your training efforts," Lance commented, pulling one of them off to wipe at his brow. "But, isn't there someone else that you could spar with?"

"Katie, Xavier and Ryan are talking to Bill," Duo replied. "Luke and Nahir are elsewhere... Amazing for two people who argue so much how many times they disappear at the same moments."

"Mmm-hmm," Lance said. "And obviously, you can't ask Paige because..."

"The pad would slip off my hand?" the ghost of the pink G-Force ranger asked, snaking her head through the wall. "Which would be pretty annoying. For both of us."

"Yeah..." Duo said. "How you holding up, Paige?"

"Probably better than you guys," she replied, lightly. "At least I'm not going to get my ass kicked by the Cobras anytime soon. Or by anything."

"Except a strong wind," Duo quipped. "What's the thing with that? Can you blow away in a gust, or...?"

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," Paige said, glaring at him. "What the heck's wrong with you?"

"I think we're all starting to wonder that," Lance muttered, much to the delight of Paige. Without hesitating, he brought up the pads for one last time. "Now come on! One more time!"

Straight on instinct, Duo spun around to crash his gloved fists against the pads. Repeatedly whaling on at them, slowly forcing them up away from their starting position.

"At least he's trying hard," Paige commented, before vanishing away through the wall. The smacking sounds of leather on leather still able to be heard in the corridor outside. "Maybe a little too hard. Oh well, story of his life."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph on the Coppinger Aerial Platform. Dogbots attack, and lose the fight._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The former rangers wave at the camera, before fading away._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"So, what are you going to do about it?" Bill wondered, looking at the three rangers in front of him. "Something does need to be done."

"He's got a point," Xavier said. "What are we going to do about the Cobras?"

"Never mind them at the moment," Katie replied, unfolding her arms. One of them bringing up the Magma Rock that she had taken from Mount Hielo into view. "We've got a lead. A slim one, but..."

"How exactly does that Magma Rock work again?" Ryan wondered. "Because, I'm not quite sure on how..."

"Well, I'm not myself," Bill said. "But, what I think is that when it is in proximity to the corresponding artefact, then it will grow hot. As it gets closer, it grows hotter. So, it's in Holimar City."

"A couple of us are heading over there this afternoon," Katie remarked. "We'll try to track it down and grab it."

"Whose going?" Ryan asked. "You know, just out of interest."

"I'm going," Katie said. "And I was thinking of taking two others. Ones with useful abilities in this sort of situation. So, probably Duo and Luke. For invisibility and telekinesis."

"No super speed with Nahir?" Bill asked. "That could be handy."

"Actually, I suppose that does make sense," the red ranger mused, having quickly thought it over. "And it's not like one more is going to make much of a difference. Ryan, you and Xavier stay here and act as our backup just in case. Or in case there's an attack elsewhere in the region. If its bad, we'll come to help you. But, if it's just Dogbots..."

"Oh, we can deal with those," Xavier said. "It's annoying not having a useful ability here."

"Come on," Katie replied, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Just because it's not needed here, doesn't mean that it won't be at some point in the future. Same for you, Ryan."

* * *

"Are you still angry, sir?" Arbok asked, looking over to where Dennis was sat at his desk, gritting his teeth together. "You look angry. How bad can it be? Everything okay? Anything I can do?"

"Oh shut up, Arbok!" Dennis snapped. "I'm not in the mood. I'm the leader of a group of failures, our only minor success came back and betrayed us and I'm really not in the mood for your whining around."

"Would you like to hear some good news?" Arbok wondered. "Because, I have some. It's not the greatest news ever, like the rangers have fallen off a cliff, but..."

"Get on with it!"

"I've been monitoring the energy readings up and around the region," Arbok continued. "In accordance to the readings given off by the Genesis Book... The quick peek I was allowed to take at it, before you hid it away... there were some similar readings to that in the area above Holimar City. Shortly after I made my escape from there. It's my opinion that an artefact is there. Somewhere."

"What?" Dennis asked. "Why were you not telling me this earlier?"

"Because you were shouting at the wall, and throwing nuts up into the air..." Arbok started to say, before deciding that it wasn't a good idea. "Anyway, what are we going to do about it? How are we going to get the thing?"

"The way we always do," Dennis replied, bringing out the Genesis Book. "With a monster. Let's see what we have..."

Moving across to a table of Poké Balls at the end of the room, he finally selected one and dropped it to the ground. A Carvanha appearing on the ground, trying to snap at his feet while flopping around uselessly on the wooden floor. Without hesitating, Dennis opened the book up. Covering the water type Pokémon in the gas, it slowly started to transform up into a larger shape. Much to the amusement of the Coppinger leader, his smile growing wider as the smoke cleared. Stood on two legs, its upper body was still the same Carvanha figure as before. The difference being that its skin now appeared to be made of solid rock, several plumes of fire rising up out of the cracks between the stone scales. Some elements of a Magcargo in there, apparent as a pair of makeshift stone arms erupted out of the rocky body.

"I am Carmagro," the monster said. "What is your bidding, sir?"

"My bidding?" Dennis asked, derisively. "You want to know what my bidding is? I've got problems coming out of my ass. There's a group of Poké Rangers trying to upset and destabilise my attempts to conquer this region. Then, this moron decided that we should create our own group of Cobra Rangers to fight them. Then they betray me and I look an even bigger fool than before. Now, this moron tells me that..."

"Do you really have to call me a moron?" Arbok asked, before being silenced under a glare from Dennis. "Then again, I suppose it could be worse. It could be..."

"This freaking idiot tells me that there's an artefact for this otherwise useless book somewhere in Holimar City, which is where you come in," Dennis continued, ignoring Arbok. "So, go and find it. If you bring it here, I won't be angry."

"That'll be a change," Arbok muttered, drawing another dirty look from his boss. "But, you heard the Cobras before they left. What if they show up? What if the rangers show up?"

"The Cobras have betrayed us!" Dennis bellowed, looking at the monster in front of him. "And the rangers are our enemies. If they get in your way, destroy them all."

"Will do," Carmagro replied, offering a salute to the Coppinger leader. "It shall be done."

With that, he vanished away into thin air.

"You think he'll do anything?" Arbok wondered, glancing over at his leader. "Because..."

"Well, I'm hoping. But, I'm not about to count my Torchics."

* * *

"Alrighty then..." Luke said, the four rangers heading out into the sunlight. "If I was an ancient artefact, where would I be hidden?"

"Good question?" Katie commented, bringing the Magma Rock up out of the pocket of her coat. Feeling the heat under her fingers. "Where would you be hidden?"

"Probably somewhere dark," Nahir offered. "Secluded. Out of the way. Yet..."

"You know what the problem is, don't you?" Duo asked. "You're treating this artefact, whatever it is, like a conscious object. And it's not. So..."

"Let's just follow the Magma Rock," Katie groaned. "See where it takes us before we decide on how to deal with the thing."

* * *

"Come on, then," Ryan said, taking up a fighting stance as he glared at Xavier. "Let's do this. Spar like the professionals do."

"Well, if you want," Xavier replied, casually folding his arms. "But, just remember it is only sparring. No going over the top."

"Now, am I the type for that?"

"You tell me," the blue ranger replied, lightly. "You can get kinda competitive. I remember that from the Verger league final."

"If you can't get yourself stoked up for a final," Ryan said. "Then, what's the point of showing up."

"Touché."

* * *

"Okay, where the heck is this thing?" Luke complained, Katie coming to a complete halt in front of him. "I mean, we've come halfway across the City, and it's not particularly a small place either..."

Ignoring him completely, Katie began to walk backwards. The startled rangers behind her trying to move back out of her way as she brought herself to a halt in the middle of the sidewalk. A bemused look on her face as she took five steps to the right, shook her head, before moving back to her starting spot. Then moving five steps to the left and repeating the act.

"Because this isn't at conspicuous," Duo quipped, as several passing people stopped to look at what was going on. "Great street theatre though."

As if hearing him, the red ranger threw him a sarcastic smirk. Taking a few steps back, before making a little bow and turning to her friends, she quickly spoke up.

"That's the place where the Magma Rock gets the hottest," she said. "Anywhere else, it cools down rapidly."

"So, where is it?" Nahir wondered, glancing up at the sky. Almost as if she was expecting to see a giant artefact hovering in the air above them. "There aren't any buildings this close. So, it's not like it's on a roof, or in a cellar or..."

"That's it!" Luke yelled, jumping up on the spot. Everyone else now looking over at him with interest, the purple ranger quickly making to go and stand behind Nahir. Which, due to the height difference, didn't quite work. "When you said cellar... It's underneath us."

"So, what?" Duo asked. "The sewers?"

"We've got to go into the sewers?" Nahir asked, rolling her eyes. "Terrific. Brilliant. Fantastic."

"Could you be any more sarcastic?" Katie wondered, glancing at the yellow ranger. "That's usually Luke's job."

"Think we should probably ask Bill if he can find a floor plan for the sewer system?" Luke mused. "Because, if something like that exists, then he'll probably be able to get them."

* * *

"Well, that's an odd request," the PokéManiac commented. "I'll see what I can do. If I do find anything, then I'll send it to a cell phone. Anyone got one on them?"

"Yeah, I've got one," Luke replied. "An iPhone x34. Only eighteen of them ever made in this region."

"Nice," Bill remarked. "I thought about getting one. But, in order to do so, I'd probably have to have committed high tech robbery. Hack into the server and substitute my address for one of the people who ordered one."

"Yeah, that's not a good idea," Lance commented, from across the room. "So, you think it's in the sewers?"

"Not unless it's hovering above our heads while invisible," Katie said. "Which is unlikely. A Pidgey or something would have flown into it before now."

"I'll be in touch with you if I have anything," Bill replied. "But, if you go into the sewers, you won't be able to get in touch with us here at the Silver Gyarados. The connection is a bit tense at the moment. Weather conditions and all."

"Go and figure," Nahir commented. "Okay, we'll let you know just before we're about to go underground."

* * *

"This isn't something that you're going to like," Bill said, the familiar beep on his console ringing out. "I've looked at your coordinates for the energy reading, and compared it to the sewer plan. There's nothing under there. Just solid earth."

"If you don't mind, we'd still like to check it out," Katie replied. "Although, how come they didn't build through that area?"

"No idea," the PokéManiac answered. "Doesn't say."

"Any chance that you can find out?" Duo wondered. "Because..."

"Errr... Guys," Katie said, glancing down at the manhole lid covering the entrance to the sewers that they had elected to use. "We need to get down there and see what we're about to find. Luke, can you lift it up with your telekinesis."

Without hesitating, the purple ranger looked at the metal covering. Bringing it up with the power of his mind, tossing it away through the air where it crashed into a pair of trash cans. Creating a tremendous bang, everyone present looking at him.

"What?" he asked, before the phone in his pocket beeped. The purple ranger promptly digging down into the pocket of his pants to bring out his cell phone. "Well, whatever it is, we've got the sewer map."

"Bet that's a phrase you never thought that you'd have to use," Duo quipped, turning his focus towards the open manhole. "Anyway, ladies first."

* * *

"Okay, we're just about here," Luke said, glancing at the large cell phone in his hand. Tracing something across it with a stylus, he held it up for everyone to see. "But, just like Bill said, there's nothing here."

As if to hammer his point home, he gestured at the wall in front of them. Banging his hand against it, the sound of solid rock behind the material easily heard in the silence of the sewer.

"See, there's absolutely..."

"We should have brought Paige," Duo commented. "That'd have made this so much easier."

Moving closer to the wall, his morpher suddenly began to glow with a black light. Luke jerking his eyes down to see his own glowing as well. The morphers belonging to Katie and Nahir doing the same as they took a step towards the wall.

"Open sesame?" Katie asked, placing her hand on the wall. The other three rangers around her doing the same, the energy given off by their morphers enough to...

"What the heck?" Luke demanded, as the wall began to move. Collapsing under their touch, the four of them now able to see a chamber on the other side of what had previously been an impassable wall.

"Guess doors do open for you when your a ranger," Duo quipped, looking out into the room beyond the wall. "Now, what do we..."

"Okay, wow," Katie interrupted, walking into the room. The chamber strangely bare, the only feature being a grey plinth in the middle of it. A great hole cut out in the top of it, bright scarlet flames erupting out of it, roaring merrily in the now fetid air.

"That looks sweltering," Nahir commented, glancing at the fire. "What do you think it means?"

Bringing the Magma Rock out of her pocket, Katie held it up to the flames. The piece of stone glowering the same colour as the fire, the red ranger couldn't help but nod at the sight.

"Well," she said, moving closer to the flickering fire in front of them. "Where do we go from here?"

"Good question," Duo remarked. "I mean, it could be everything. Or it could be nothing. Just more misdirection."

"This was a waste of time," Luke said, turning to head back for the exit. Accidentally knocking Katie who was holding the Magma Rock up, the item slowly slipping from between her fingers. The four rangers only able to watch as it bounced up off the ground and into the fire. An eternity seeming to pass, as the flames turned black. And then blue. Followed by green. Then yellow. The next colour being purple. Finally, they turned red again and the flames vanished from view. Just leaving a drastically different artefact in the middle of the plinth. Instead of the Magma Rock that had been there before, there was now a clear glass jewel, a streak of scarlet flames embedded in the midst of it.

"The Eternal Flame?" Nahir asked. "This has to be the first artefact. We did it! We've got it!"

Bouncing up and down on the spot, she quickly reached up to hug both Luke and Duo. The black ranger making to reach for the artefact, before thinking better of it. Instead shooting a grin over at Katie.

"Think maybe you should get it," he said. "Since you won't notice the heat."

Rolling her eyes, Katie reached over to pluck the item up out of the plinth. A smirk passing across her face as she looked at Duo.

"It's not even hot," she replied. "You want to hold it?"

"How dumb do I look?" he asked. "Don't answer that question."

"How about you hand it over to us!"

Despite the heat of the item in her hand, a shiver ran down Katie's spine as she recognised the voice. The four rangers turning around to see the six figures of the Cobra Rangers stood blocking the entrance to the room. Cobra Red having spoken.

"And we probably won't let you go, though," Cobra Blue remarked. "Now, where are the rest of you?"

"Why, you want to destroy the blue ranger like your average cheesy bad guy?" Duo asked, determined to be belligerent even in the face of adversity. "You want that artefact, then you're going to have to take it by force."  
"Okay then," Cobra Yellow said, the six of them taking a step forward. Only for a burst of light to rush out through the chamber, Carmagro appearing in front of the Poké Rangers.

"You're not taking that artefact!" he snarled. "Because I am."

"Oh yeah?" Cobra Purple asked. "You and whose army?"

"You are outnumbered, moron," Cobra Black pointed out. "That artefact is ours!"

Letting out a roar of anger, Carmagro unleashed a stream of lava towards Cobra Black. Cobra Red holding out a hand and blocking the strike. Hurling it back towards the unmorphed rangers, the four of them quickly ducking to evade it. Hearing it crash through the wall at the back, they began to run through the suddenly opened space. The Cobras making to give chase, only for Carmagro to go in and block them off. Letting out a roar of frustration, Cobra Red snapped a foot up into the side of the monsters head.

"You can't win, you fool!" he snarled, kicking him towards Cobra Black. "We will obliterate you!"

* * *

"Real tug of war here," Duo commented, the sounds of the Cobra Rangers fighting against Carmagro ringing out through the sewer tunnels behind them. "Lucky that it's just the distraction we need."

"What we need is to get out of here," Katie hissed. "Now, we can split up, or we can stay together. Your choice, guys."

"Are you nuts?" Luke demanded. "We split up, what happens if two of us bump into the Cobras. We're both dead, I suppose."

"Okay, so that option is out," Nahir said. "But the same could be said if it's four against six."

"Don't worry, guys," Duo remarked. "If it comes down to it, we do the smart thing."

"That makes a change for you," the yellow ranger commented, bitingly. "What is the smart thing?"

"Run," Katie replied, her voice calm and casual, but also firm with authority.

"Oh, great," Luke said. "Nice to..."

"RUN!" the red ranger insisted, the sound of boots running through the water close to them. The thunder of the Cobras on the warpath.

Without hesitating, the four of them started to run. Knowing that they were doomed if the Cobras caught up with them.

* * *

"You got anything?" Xavier asked, looking over at Bill. "You have a lock on them, or..."

"Nothing," Bill said, shrugging his shoulders. "The satellite that I use doesn't have the ability to X-Ray through the ground and see what's happening in the sewer system. Unfortunately."

"You think maybe we should get down there and see whether they need our help or not?" Ryan asked. "Because..."

"We don't know where they're going to come out," Lance said. "So, I would wait until we know where they are first. Just a recommendation. If you want to go down and run around trying to guess where they're going to come out, then be my guest."

"Got to agree with Lance," Bill remarked. "There's no point."

* * *

"Ladder!"

The shout from Nahir, managing to keep up ahead of the group, was enough to alert them all to its presence. The yellow ranger quickly diving onto the rungs, trying to get up and out of the sewers as fast as possible.

"Wait!" Luke yelled, grabbing her ankle to stop her from vanishing out of sight. "Just..."

Focusing heavily, he threw a blast of psychic energy up the tunnel. The four rangers hearing the tremendous clang of the manhole lid smashing off its holding.

"After you," he grinned. "Go on."

"Thanks," she said, starting the climb up. Luke quickly following after her.

"Guess it's just you and me," Duo grinned, looking over to Katie. "Alone in the dark."

"Go on, get up there," she ordered, gesturing to the metal ladder. The sound of the Cobras in the distance getting closer. "If it comes down to it..."

"Don't hang around," the black ranger warned, already on the ladder. Katie waiting a few seconds, before making to follow him.

* * *

"We've got them," Bill announced, the readings showing up on the screen in front of him. "Got Nahir... Luke..."

"Great, let's go and get them then," Ryan said. "See what's happening."

"I've got Duo..." the PokéManiac continued. "And finally... Katie."

"Full set," Xavier replied. "Okay?"

"Yeah, you might as well go," Lance said. "Go hook up with them."

"Let's do it!" Ryan exclaimed, as he and Xavier brought their wrist morphers up. "Right now!"

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

"Tell me you've still got the gem," Luke groaned, as the four rangers tried to blend away into the crowd. Given that they'd spent the last hour in a sewer, something that was harder than they might have thought."

"It's strapped to my upper thigh," Katie said, lightly. "Not getting away from there."

"Are you sure?" Duo asked. "Because..."

"I'm urging you not to finish that sentence," Nahir remarked. "Because..."

Before the yellow ranger could finish telling them why she didn't want Duo to finish what he was about to say, an explosion of fire rang out through the air. Hitting the ground close to them, the rangers quickly turned to see what had caused the unexpected attack. The sight of Carmagro striding across the sidewalk instantly answering their question.

"Oh well, at least it's not the Cobras," Luke said. "That's a..."

"We can't morph in the middle of a crowd," Katie warned. "Otherwise..."

As if they'd heard her, almost immediately solving the problem, Ryan and Xavier appeared from over the horizon. Both of them launching flying kicks at the monster, Carmagro roaring out in surprise at the sudden unexpected attack.

"This is helpful," Nahir said. "Let's go and get into the action."

Taking a step back, peeling away out of the crowd, the four of them brought their morphers up. Katie giving the command to morph.

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

"This is where all that sparring came in handy," Ryan quipped, throwing three rapid kicks into Carmagro's body. The monster reacting quickly by bringing an arm up and hurling him back through the air. As he hit the ground, Xavier moved in to battle the strange creature. Ryan getting up to see the other rangers arriving out onto the scene.

"Glad to see you guys," he said, as Carmagro struck out with a Rock Throw attack. The blow hurling Xavier back towards the other rangers. Shaking her head, Katie stepped forward, bringing her twin Heat Blasters up.

"Damnit, I'll get him," she said, quickly combining the two. "Flareon Battle Rifle."

"Go on Katie!" Duo shouted. "Give it to him!"

"Way ahead of you there," the red ranger continued, levelling the weapon at Carmagro. "Flareon Fury!"

Pulling the trigger, a bright red ball of fire erupted out of the barrel of the weapon. Transforming into the shape of a Flareon, it charged along the ground while growing bigger and bigger by the second. Making to crash into Carmagro...

... Who easily held out a hand, pushing the blast aside while seemingly unharmed.

"What the...?" Katie yelled, completely shocked as the flames dissipated into nothing. "No!"

"Well, he is a mixture of fire, water and rock," Xavier pointed out. "How were you expecting that to do anything."

"We're doomed," Luke moaned. "No way to finish him off."

No sooner had he finished speaking, five of the six rangers were suddenly struck with an image inside their heads. Luke, Nahir, Duo, Ryan and Xavier all being affected by the severity of how quickly the images had beamed into their heads.

"You seeing what I'm seeing?" Duo asked, looking around to the other four rangers. "Because..."

"A new weapon," Nahir said. "This could help."

"Let's do it!" Xavier remarked. "Putting them together."

Bringing out their weapons, the five of them began to put them together. Starting with the Fauna Hammer laid onto its side, Duo placed the Shadow Sabre against the handle. The business end of the Hammer becoming a butt, while the other end became a barrel. The tips of the Tidal Trident bent up, Xavier placing it atop the Hammer where it quickly bent around in shape to form three more barrels. As Nahir broke the Storm Staff in half, she placed them at the side of the weapon, the two pieces connecting to the twisted ends of the Trident. Finally, Luke placed the Psycho Spear on top, Duo quickly taking the weapon in his hands.

"Pentasis Blaster!" the black ranger yelled, bringing the weapon up to aim at Carmagro. "Let's do this!"

"You can't stop me!" the monster roared, starting to charge forward. "Now, give me that gem!"

"Fire!" the black ranger shouted, pulling the trigger. A powerful multicoloured burst of energy erupting out of the barrel, crashing against the monster's body, instantly causing him to explode. As his remains hit the ground, the five rangers all let out cheers and started to high five each other.

"Awesome new weapon," Ryan said, punching the air.

* * *

"This is most annoying," Dennis remarked, watching the scenes of battle taking place in front of him. "What can we do to get a break?"

As if to silently answer his question, a ball of shiny white energy erupted out of the Genesis Book and vanished away through the thin air.

"That might give us one," Arbok suggested, as the two of them watched the energy in question appear onto the battlefield. Falling onto the remains of their monster, it quickly reanimated the creature, causing him to grow to a giant size. Towering above the rangers.

"Yes, that is helpful," the Coppinger leader commented.

* * *

"Aww man," Luke said. "He's even more freaky when you see him at that height."

"Guess we're going to have to deal with Carmagro before anything else," Katie said, looking at the giant figure above them. "That's our pressing concern."

"What about the Cobras?" Xavier asked, looking around for any sign of the evil rangers. "You see them anywhere?"

"They were down in the sewers," Nahir replied. "But right now, they're..."

"Not here," Duo pointed out. "Let's do it."

Without thinking, the six of them began to grow, transforming into their Eevee forms. Katie quickly giving out a command to get the rest of the battle underway.

"Overload Zords!" she shouted. "Megazord formation!"

Under the command, the six Zords turned into their robot forms and began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbs and tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. As the Megazord stood up straight, it stretched out its arms.

"Give me that artefact!" Carmagro roared, striding forward to attack the giant machine. Blowing a blast of flames towards the Overload Megazord, the rangers yelling out in surprise as the flames streaked across the metallic body of the robot.

* * *

Below them, the six Cobra Rangers had finally put in an appearance. The group stood below the two giants, watching them go at each other.

"Hmmm," Cobra Blue remarked, looking up at the two giant figures battling above them. "This is most interesting."

"They think that they're safe from us there," Cobra Yellow said, shaking her head in disdain. "They don't know the meaning of the word."

"Time for our own transformation!" Cobra Red ordered, the six figures glowing with a bright white light. Within seconds, the group had reformed into one giant Megazord of their own, easily able to match both Carmagro and the Overload Megazord in size. The whole design of the Megazord being similar to that of an Arbok. The legs were similar to the coiled up form of the poison type Pokémon. One being black and one being blue. The main chest area of the Megazord was a bright red Arbok's face, while the arms were purple and yellow, each ending in the jaws of an Arbok to act in the shape of hands. The head, which was green, almost resembled the head of one of the Cobra Rangers, a band across the top covered in the six colours of the Cobra Rangers inside the cockpit. Sat in a formation similar to the Poké Rangers in the Overload Megazord.

"Silent Strike Megazord!" Cobra Red said, the giant machine rising up above the horizon. Ready to face the giant form of Carmagro.

"Holy crap, that's not fair," Luke commented, from the cockpit of the Overload Megazord. "Anyone else think that this isn't fair?"

"Few things in life are," Nahir pointed out, as the Silent Strike Megazord threw a punch at Carmagro. The monster loudly bursting into complaint at having to fight against two Megazords.

"Which one do we fight?" Xavier wondered, as the Cobra Ranger's Megazord continued to pound into Carmagro. "Because this is confusing."

"Whichever one wins," Katie replied, dragging the Overload Megazord back just out of range of the battle. Across from them, the Arbok arms of the Silent Strike Megazord shot up, covering Carmagro with a bright purple Acid attack. The monster shrieking in pain, as he tried to shake it off himself.

"Tail Strikes!" Cobra Red commanded, the arms snapping out repeatedly to whip against the body of Carmagro.

"This pathetic excuse for a monster is no match for us!" Cobra Purple remarked. "Let us finish it off."

"Seems about right," Cobra Blue said. "Time to summon the Serpent Sabre."

At the command, a large bronze blade appeared in the hand of the Silent Strike Megazord. As with most things about the Cobras, it was designed like an Arbok. The area from the tip of the tail to the hood acting as a blade, while the cylindrical head was the hilt.

"Toxic Slash!" Cobra Red ordered. "Now!"

The blade being brought up high by the Megazord, it began to glow with a bright purple energy. Venom dripping away from the metal, seconds before it was brought down again, cutting straight through Carmagro's body. The monster instantly screaming in pain, before falling to the ground and exploding into thousands of pieces.

"This is an interesting feeling," Duo commented. "It's always nice when..."

Before he could finish speaking, the arms of the Cobra Megazord whipped out through the air. Grabbing the Overload Megazord in their grasp, striking repeatedly.

"Damnit!" Katie shouted. "We need to counter attack right now!"

"Anyone else forget that they weren't on our side for a moment then?" Ryan asked, the Overload Megazord managing to force the whips away under Katie's direction. "So, what now?"

"I'm thinking Genesis Blaster," Xavier remarked. "If nothing else..."

"Let's go for it," Katie said, hitting a button in front of her. "Genesis Blaster! Hyper Beam!"

At the command, the weapon came up from the compartment in the Vaporeon leg of the Megazord. A bright orange beam of energy erupting out of the barrel, tearing through the air towards the Silent Strike Megazord. The opposing Megazord staggering back under the force of the blast, burns appearing across the Arbok face on the stomach of the robot.

"Think we can destroy them here and now?" Nahir wondered. "Because..."

"I doubt it's going to be that easy," Luke said. "Want to try something else? Psycho Thunder Strike?"  
"Sounds like a plan," the yellow ranger replied. "Go for it."

The two of them activating their controls, the Megazord held its hands up. Across the battlefield, the Silent Strike Megazord mirrored the movement, shooting out a barrage of corrosive Acid towards them under Cobra Reds order. The beam of psychic energy backed by lightning going wide as the Overload Megazord was staggered by the blast.

"Damnit!" Katie shouted, banging her fist against the console in frustration. "Come on! We have to keep on going. Can't let them win!"

As the six of them managed to recover the composure of the giant robot, the Serpent Sabre came crashing down into the body of the Overload Megazord. Forcing it back even more, Katie reacting quickly.

"Genesis Staff!"

The weapon appearing in the hands of the Overload Megazord, it quickly came up to block another strike. Forcing it up, before slashing at the Silent Strike Megazord, the blade at the end of the staff wreaking damage onto the already battered area in the chest of the robot. Sparks erupting up across the steel surface of the skin.

"We're losing power," Cobra Black reported, slightly sheepishly. "We need to recharge for now."

"Damn!" Cobra Red growled. "This isn't over, rangers! We will be back soon! And we will destroy you!"

Even as the threat hung in the air, the Silent Strike Megazord vanished. The sight of the six Cobras teleporting away over the horizon sticking in the rangers vision.

"What the heck is that all about?" Ryan wondered. "It's strange that they keep doing that."

"I'm not looking the Rapidash in the mouth," Luke said. "Because it has bad breath."

* * *

"This doesn't get easier, does it?" Bill asked. "The Cobras appear to be getting stronger. They can form their own Megazord. And the Coppingers aren't going to let up any time soon."

"At least they don't appear to be working together," Duo pointed out. "That makes it slightly easier. Like today when they destroyed Carmagro."

"Wild fire destroys everything in its path," Nahir said, quietly. "They're not on our side. Sure, they destroyed one of the monsters today, but they'd do the same to us if they had the chance."

"You think we don't know that?" Luke asked. "Still, at least the whole day was a success on the whole. We got the first artefact."

"And, there we have it," Katie said, reaching into her pocket to place the crystal stone with the flames in the middle onto the table in front of them. "The first artefact."

"Awesome," Lance remarked, craning his neck forward to get a better view of the item. "So, we've got one. What about the others?"

"Can't we have one moment of glee?" Ryan wondered.

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Yeah... That's how to do it.**

**Before anything else, quick note of publicity for fellow Poké Rangers author, PikaFlash. Over the month of September, he'll be doing a four part Rangers arc featuring six veteran rangers. Including Luke and Duo, so go ahead and check that out for a glimpse of the future. That's Once A Ranger in Lost Zone, people. Okay, shout over.**

**Thanks for the reviews. All appreciated. Completely and wildly.**

**So, one artefact down. Eight left. And only another forty one chapters to do it.**

**Yeah, the Cobras can transform into their own Megazord. Great for them. At least in their own way, they're sort of helping the rangers out.**

**Next one is entitled The Deal With The Demon. Should be up soon, preview below etc.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Please! Anyway, for the review reply for this chapter... Screw it, it'll be Cobra Red. **

* * *

**Chapter Eleven, The Deal With The Demon, preview.**

**Paige: I'm sick of being a ghost.**

**Duo: Can't comment.**

**?: I have an interesting offer for you.**

**Paige: I'm listening.**

**?: For a small price, I can make you what you were.**

**Paige: Okay...**

**Katie: What happened to our powers.**

**Paige: Uh oh.**

**Xavier: What did you do?**

**Bill: Unless they can get their powers back, the Cobras are going to slaughter them.  
Paige: Go G-Force!**

* * *

**Coming soon.**


	11. The Deal With The Demon

Chapter Eleven. The Deal With The Demon.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_Having been badly beaten by the Cobra Rangers in battle, the rangers tried to regroup the best they could. Duo even training with Lance for an improvement. Meanwhile, Bill and Lance heard from the rangers that one of the artefacts was in Holimar City. As Katie, Duo, Luke and Nahir went there, they discovered that it was down a sewer. Despite the insistence of Bill that there was nothing there, the four of them went for it. As they discovered a plinth of flames, Katie accidentally dropped her Magma Rock in there, the result quickly becoming the first artefact, the Eternal Flame. Before they could leave, they were attacked by both the Cobras and the Coppinger monster, Carmagro. Managing to escape, they formed a brand new weapon in the Pentasis Blaster. Using it to blow up Carmagro, they realised that the Cobras could form their own Megazord. After a brief battle, they retreated, leaving the rangers to revel in the victory..._

* * *

"Hmmm..."

Reaching out to root through a rusty trash can, the brown robed figure desperately scrabbled at the layers of garbage within it. Hoping to find something even slightly edible. Something that he could close his jaws around, put off the insatiable hunger until he had the chance to search for something more sustaining. In his current condition, he wasn't going to be able to hunt for anything. Fatigued from the ordeals, ever since that day over six months ago had passed. Unnoticed by many, he had been one of the few to be most affected by it.

"Rotten Oran Berries," he said, his voice cracked and hoarse as he brought the food in question out of the metal can. "Oh joy. Bonus."

Moving the palm full of spoiled foodstuff up towards his mouth, the figure made to tip them down his throat...

Only for a hand to grab him by the shoulder, whoever had snatched at him easily able to hurl the weakened figure across the alley. The stained brown robes coming away from the body, revealing a monstrous visage underneath them. A thin Gallade-like figure, his helmet black with bright red stripes. Instead of at his elbows, the blades the Pokémon usually possessed were at his waist, while he wore some faded grey battle armour across his gaunt body. Marked with a strange insignia on the breast. Glancing up at his attacker, his hand quickly went to one of the blades at his waist. Cobra Red quickly stamping down on his forearm to stop the action taking place.

"Thought I heard something out here," he snarled. "Look at this. You're not a monster. Not a Coppinger one, anyway. You aren't the sort of thing that they would come up with."

"He's a demon," Cobra Blue remarked, folding his arms behind Cobra Red. "Thought they were all destroyed."

"You might as well destroy me, Poké Ranger!" the demon growled. "My life isn't worth living. Not since some more of your kind destroyed the Shadow World and robbed me of my power! Go ahead, I'm not even going to resist."

"Well, that makes things easier," Cobra Red commented, grabbing the demon up by the throat. Bringing his fist back to crush him...

Only for Cobra Blue to reach out and grab Cobra Red's hand.

"Wait," he said. "I'm interested. Tell us more, strange demon. We aren't Poké Rangers, we're out to destroy them. And anything else that stands in our way to getting to the Genesis Book."

"Well," the demon replied. "Where to start...?"

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph on the Coppinger Aerial Platform. Dogbots attack, and lose the fight._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The former rangers wave at the camera, before fading away._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"So, Paige..." Luke said, glancing over at the ghost loitering about at the other end of the room. "How's things? The whole spectral thing mainly."

"How do you think?" she retorted, angrily. "Annoying as ever. Can't affect anything around me physically. All I can do is yell out helpful suggestions and even they're ignored most of the time."

"Only because they are usually aren't helpful," Ryan offered. "Besides, we've usually already come up with a plan and it goes against what we have planned."

"That's true," Duo said. "Normally, it doesn't help matters, but just complicates things."

"I'm sick of being a ghost!" she exclaimed, dropping down into a seat. Trying in vain to steady herself as she fell straight through the seat, again going straight through the floor.

"If you're sick of that, then doing something like that that's just going to remind you of it is pointless," Duo remarked. "Honestly. Although, I can't comment on it. Not being a ghost."

* * *

Finally managing to bring herself to a halt on the bottom deck of the Silver Gyarados, Paige couldn't help but count her blessings that she hadn't carried straight on through the bottom of the tatty looking cruise liner and dropped into the ocean.

"Small mercy," she commented, dryly. "I hate this so much. So so much."

Getting up to her feet, however unsteadily, she glanced at the surrounding area. Wondering where about on the boat that she had landed, needing to regain her bearings. Examining the room, she realised that it must be some sort of storage area close to the engines. Several useless or discarded items cast down into the room, long since forgotten. Looking over to the door, she could have sworn that she saw a Gamecube next to it. The console starting to glow as she looked at it, the ghost instantly taking a step back in surprise. Before remembering that no matter what it was, there wasn't much chance of it being able to hurt her.

"Spooky," she remarked, folding her arms. "Yet, I'm so not impressed. Whatever you are."

"Sorry about that," a voice said. "Allow me to..."

Following the disembodied voice, a pair of strained grunts rang out through the air. Paige still not impressed as it spoke up again.

"... Dislodge myself," it finished, a ball of smoke emerging through the cracks in the Gamecube lid. "Sorry about that, I appear to have been trapped in there for quite a while. What year is it?"

"2010," she replied. "You can't have been in there that long. It's not that old a machine."

"I'm sorry, but aren't you at least a little surprised at my presence?" the smoke ball asked. "Normally, people usually are shocked."

"Takes a lot more than that to shock me," she replied. "So, keep on trying."

"What's wrong?" the ball of smoke asked, this time surprising her with the question. "Because you seem sad about something. Distressed even. In fact, I'd say that you were on the verge of a breakdown."

"Nah, not really on the last part," she said, casually. "But, I'm not happy. Not really."

"Anything in particular," it wondered. "Or, is it none of my business?"

"Not particularly," she replied. "So... unless you're some sort of magic ball of smoke who can help me out with my problem of being a ghost..."

"You're a ghost?" the smoke asked, sounding surprised. "That's something I can relate to. I'm a ball of smoke, in case you hadn't noticed."

"Yeah, I had."

"And it's funny that you should mention it about being able to help you out," the ball of smoke remarked. "Because..."

"Because what?" Paige demanded, a surge of hope in the pit of her stomach. "What are you saying? Trying to say?"

"I have an interesting offer for you," the ball of smoke continued. "One about your affliction. I collect... Rare abilities. And I'm interested in one that you can provide."

"I'm listening," she said. "What are you talking about?"

"For a small price," it remarked. "I can make you what you were. No more hanging around this boat like some sort of loner."

"Okay..." she said. "And that's what you want?"

"But, am I the sort that's going to lie to you?" it asked. "All I promise is that you will no longer be a ghost by tomorrow. All I want is the permission to take that which you can offer to me."

"Then, I give you permission," she replied. "Go for it."

"It shall be done," the ball of smoke said, a sinister tinge in its voice. "Thank you, Miss Martinez. You have been most helpful."

Even as he finished speaking, Paige suddenly felt light headed. A sensation that she hadn't experienced for a while, ever since becoming a ghost. Staggering back, her vision started to swim around her. Slowly starting to go black, until she collapsed to the ground and passed out.

* * *

Her eyes flickering open, she found herself laid in a bed in one of the cabins on the upper floors of the Silver Gyarados. Able to feel it against her skin, the sensation one of the best that she could remember feeling for a long long time. And in that moment, she was unable to keep her relief inside.

"Yippee!" she yelled, leaping up out of bed and punching the air. "I'm back! Oh yeah!"

"Keep it down in there!" Nahir yelled from the room next door. "Trying to sleep. You've been back from the dead for quite a while."

"I'm solid again!" she shouted through the wall. "Oh yes! How about that? I'm not a ghost any more!"

"What?"

* * *

"Well, after six complicated tests..." Bill began to say, looking at Paige in front of him. "I think that..."

"I'm sorry, why the need for six complicated tests when tapping her on the forehead and not seeing it pass through would probably be good enough?" Duo wondered, as the PokéManiac put his scanner down.

"Because, it could be any number of things," Bill continued. "It could be temporary, it could be just be surface effects, meaning that her internal organs are still spectral. It could be..."

"Okay, we get the idea," Katie said. "Paige, how did this happen?"

"Who cares," she replied, picking a file of papers up to flick through. "I'm back. Everything's fine and brilliant. I am feeling so great right about now. Anyone notice how corporeal I am?"

"Yeah, we get the idea," Luke said, rolling his eyes. "Jeez."

"Oh, can't you be happy for me?" she asked. "Mind you, it doesn't matter. As soon as we hit dock, I'll be on my merry way."

"Nice for you to decide to abandon us at the first available opportunity," Xavier commented. "Jeez, Paige, I thought you were better than that."

"Hey, everyone else got the chance to go off on their own, their tenure completed," Paige retorted. "Until recently, the only thing keeping me here was the fact that I'm a spook. Now, I can weave my merry way along out of here. You guys are the Poké Rangers..."

"Technically, you still are," Ryan pointed out, gesturing to the G-Force morpher on Paige's wrist. "So..."

"That's not what I meant," she replied. "I don't morph by yelling out Genesis Overload."

Before the argument could escalate much further, the alarms rang out across the ship. Everyone present jumping to attention, as Bill rushed over to his computer. Bringing the sight of the Cobra Rangers attacking a city in Verger up onto the screen.

"Guess your escape is going to have to wait a few," Lance commented, glancing over at Paige. "You guys better ranger up and stop them."

"Okay, let's go!" Katie said, the six of them bringing their morphers up. Ready to activate. "Genesis Overload!"

And nothing promptly happened. Much to the surprise of the six rangers. Duo took his off and started to bang it against his leg, before pressing the activation button again. To no avail.

"What happened to our powers?" Katie asked, trying her own morpher. Finding it still not working. "Uh oh."

* * *

"You want the bad news first, or the good news first?" Bill asked, having finished running his scanner across the morphers. "Because, the good news is that the stones you draw your power from aren't damaged at all. They're still in the same condition as ever they were. The bad news is that there isn't any power running through them. That they're essentially expensive rocks right now. Nothing doing for us, no way of powering up the morphers."

"What could have caused it?" Ryan wondered. "I mean... This shouldn't just happen like that. Not without a catalyst."

"Well..." Bill said. "Obviously that would be the most logical explanation. AKA, the one that makes the most sense. Have any of you spoken to anyone strange lately. Anything that could possibly remove your powers. Anything at all? Strange, mysterious, possibly dangerous but definitely mystical?"

"Uh oh," Paige said, hearing the PokéManiac speak. "That can't be... Uh oh..."

"Uh oh what?" Luke asked, giving her a dirty look. "Something that you're not telling us?"

"Maybe..." she said, slowly. "I can't be sure."

"What did you do?" Xavier demanded, glaring at her. "How did you exactly did you become solid again?"

"Well..." she said, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "It's quite a long story. And an interesting one as well."

* * *

"Oh crap!" Bill exclaimed, as Paige finished her story. "On my damn boat, jeez!"

"Is that really the most important thing out there right about now?" Lance asked. "Because..."

"No, I mean it," Bill complained. "How dare whatever did this invade the privacy of the Silver Gyarados. We have a certain set of rules. No demons, monsters, mutants and no border patrol checking the holds below deck."

"Yeah, I noticed there's some crazy crap down there," Paige remarked. "But, not the point. So, you think this ball of smoke might have had something to do with it?"

"I'd stake my reputation on it," Lance said. "What I don't understand is how you giving permission could result in this thing taking all of the ranger powers. Surely you are the master of your own power."

"You would think that, right?" Katie asked, as the alarms went off again. "But, we're running out of time. The Cobras are still attacking. We've got to do something, powers or not."

"You can't be serious," Bill said, the satellite pictures showing up on the monitor behind him. "They cleaned you out when you faced them last time. That was with your powers. Without them, it's going to be like sending out a Caterpie to face a Charizard."

"So, which are we?" Ryan wondered. "The Caterpie or the Charizard?"

"The Caterpie!" Lance exclaimed. "Were you not listening?"

"Apparently not," Luke commented. "As much as it pains me to say it, we do have to go."

Throwing out his hand, a packet of papers came sailing through the air towards him. The purple ranger easily catching them.

"And we do still have our none ranger powers," he replied. "Somehow."

"That makes no sense," Ryan commented. "Oh well... Can't you guys use your old powers to battle them? Your SDI and G-Force powers?"

"I've still got the G-Force powers," Duo said, tapping his wrist. "But, these guys gave their Defense Morphers back to SDI. They don't have access to them, and by the time that..."

"I get the idea," Ryan groaned. "Okay... Well, I wouldn't have that anyway. Let me guess, it'd take too long to get them back from SDI."

"Correct," Nahir said. "We need to get going, right now!"

"I'm not looking forward to it," Xavier admitted. "This isn't going to be pleasant."

"It's okay," Katie remarked. "We'll be fine. Bill, you need to try and fix this. Without the powers..."

Letting the sentence hang in the air, the six of them began to head for the exit. Leaving Bill, Lance and Paige stood alone on the bridge. The roar of the Hover Chasers erupting out across the ocean, as the six vehicles left deck.

"It's not good, is it?" Paige asked, folding her arms.

"Unless they can get their powers back," Bill said, looking at the video images in front of them. At the way the Cobra Rangers were attacking the people of Agueros Town. "The Cobras are going to slaughter them. It's suicide that they even went to battle them."

Stroking her chin for a few seconds, Paige finally made her decision. Standing up straight, she brought her G-Force wrist morpher up to her mouth. Speaking into the communicator part of the device.

"Dorlinda?" she asked. "You there? I need your help with something."

* * *

"Time Hole hasn't changed much," she remarked, looking around at the room as Dorlinda tapped away at the console in front of him. "You've got a great place here, Dorlinda."

"I know," the Lord of Time replied. "You might have paid a high price for becoming solid again, Paige. What were you thinking?"

"Short answer, I wasn't," she admitted. "I just... Hated being a ghost so much. It's horrible."

"At least you're alive," he said, still sounding annoyed. "You did get a second chance. Millions, make that billions don't get what you had."

With that, the room went silent very quickly. The only sound being the hum of the monitor and the clack of the keys.

"The energy readings that were being given off at the Silver Gyarados about nine sixteen last night..." he said. "They are currently in Agueros Town. If I had to take a guess at it, that's where the thing that did this to you and took the power of the other rangers currently is."

"Can you teleport me there?" Paige asked, sounding apologetic about the circumstances. "I need to put this right."  
"Well, at least you're doing that," Dorlinda commented, a slight hint of bitterness in his voice. "Well done. Sending you to the coordinates right now."

Pushing a button on the console, Paige vanished away in a streak of pink energy.

* * *

"Hey, Cobras!"

Looking around at the sound of the challenge, the six Cobra Rangers saw the six unmorphed rangers stood watching them. Ready to challenge them.

"Where's your powers?" Cobra Purple taunted. "We're expecting the Poké Rangers."

"You've got us!" Ryan shouted. "We're just..."

"Look at that," Cobra Green smirked. "That demon actually managed to do what he claimed. They're all powerless."

"Can't even class them as Poké Rangers then," Cobra Yellow remarked, bitingly. "What shall we do."

"Attack," Cobra Red said. "That's what we swore to do. If they're stupid enough to show up without their powers, then that's their decision."

At the words, and the sight of the six evil rangers starting to run towards them, the powerless Poké Rangers mentally began to steel themselves and wait for the inevitable battle. None of them even having the slightest feeling that it was going to be pleasant.

* * *

Cobra Green reached Ryan first, hitting the powerless green ranger with a powerful two handed strike that threw him straight to the ground. Already groaning in pain, Ryan slammed his hand down into the ground.

"Try this for size," he muttered, as six large thorny vines erupted out of the grass, ready to impale Cobra Green. Only for the evil ranger to bat them aside, kicking one of them straight back into the ground before turning his attention back to Ryan.

"Okay, I did that," Cobra Green smirked, leaning down to grab him by the throat. Easily picking the powerless ranger up off the ground. "What's your next party trick?"

Meanwhile, Nahir was battling against Cobra Yellow. Using her super speed to streak in onto the evil ranger and land attacks. Her opponent unable to track her movements, until the demented Cobra Ranger brought her arm up and got in a lucky strike. Catching the powerless yellow ranger square on the forehead, easily catching Nahir on the forehead. As she went down, Cobra Yellow struck out with a foot, kicking her in the ribs. As she rolled away, Nahir managed to jump up to parry the next strike. Cobra Yellow's boots bouncing off her wrists. With the Cobra Ranger slightly off balance, Nahir kicked out to send the enemy ranger down to the ground. No sooner had Cobra Yellow hit the grass, she was already in motion again. Her legs flailing up, knocking Nahir off her feet.

Grunting with the focus of keeping his defense up, Xavier felt Cobra Blue repeatedly land attacks onto his body. Taking them, he continued to bide his time, before attacking back. Hitting out into the midriff of Cobra Blue, the evil ranger's interest taken at the way that he'd avoided damage from the strikes.

"Impressive," he remarked, as Xavier threw another punch towards his head. Bringing his palm up, he easily caught the intended attack in his hand. "But, how good's your concentration?"

Kicking out, he struck the powerless blue ranger in the side, forcing him to the ground.

Across from him, Luke didn't have time to notice what was happening with the other rangers. Instead, he was having to deal with Cobra Purple, desperately trying to block the frenzied blows she was hurling at him. Bringing his leg up, he kicked her back in the stomach, before glancing around at the surrounding area. Spotting a huge rock nestled in the grass, the powerless purple ranger quickly reached out with the power of his mind to send it smashing it against her body. The evil ranger standing firm to take the blow, the stone shattering against her body. As she roared in pain, she charged like a wounded Ursaring, the body check throwing him back through the air.

* * *

No sooner had she left the Time Hole, Paige found herself in some narrow alley in the middle of Agueros Town. Much to her irritation, the smell of some week old curry ripe through the air.

"I have to correct my mistake," Paige muttered to herself, folding her arms. Before raising her voice, hoping to attract the thing that had cured her. "Hey, where are you? Smoke ball guy?"

Right on cue, the spectral ball of smoke appeared out of nowhere, floating next to her.

"Oh, it's you," it said. "What do you want?"

"Give those powers back, right now!" she snapped. "I'm really not in the mood for screwing around with you."

"You agreed to it," the ball of smoke replied. "So no refunds. Bye bye."

"You took something that you had no right to take," she warned. "Something that I shouldn't have been able to give."

"Yet, you did," it responded. "Now, if you'll excuse me..."

Her patience finally having snapped, Paige reached down to grab up an old iron bar from the ground. Swiping the makeshift weapon away through the smokey creature, whatever it was letting out a scream of pain before vanishing. And on the ground in front of her, was a Gallade-like demon with bright silver battle armour. A crest in the middle of it, heavily polished to perfection was also visible.

"How dare you attack Erlainia, warrior of the house of Misteria," the figure roared, springing up to his feet. "How dare you!"

"Yeah, I dare!" she retorted. "I thought all you demons were destroyed when the Shadow World imploded."

"I managed to escape," Erlainia said, proudly. "Managed to get out in time. But, I was weak. My power was destroyed as I was cut off from the source. I was forced to live in squalor, just trying to survive until the moment I had my revenge. Even that didn't warm me up at night, and eventually I was ready for my own destruction. Which I thought that the Cobras would grant. But, instead they gave me just enough power to turn into the form I tricked you with. Now, with the powers of your friends, I am back to my full glory. I no longer wish for death, but instead to deal it out."

"If that's what you were looking for," Paige replied, her hand going for the wrist on her other arm. "Then, I'll be happy to oblige you with destruction."

Snickering at the thought, Erlainia brought one of the swords up from his waist. Pointing it at her with a smirk.

"You and what power?" he asked, smugly. "Excuse me if I'm not shaking with fear."

Returning the smirk, Paige brought her wrist up. Revealing her G-Force morpher. Much to the surprise of Erlainia.

"This!" she yelled, before activating the device with the punch of a button. "Go G-Force!"

For the first time in a while, the item started to glow with a bright pink light, before the mystical spirit of the Clefable erupted out of it. The Pokémon doing a u-turn, before crashing into her, creating her armour. Her costume being dark pink with shades of lighter pink on the arms. The lower part was also a dark pink, although the hem of her skirt was a light pink. The belt and boots were the same colour. Her pink helmet's visor was the shape of a Clefable's mouth, and she had the curly quiff of the Fairy Pokemon atop her helmet, as well as the white mouthpiece.

"Oh, it's like that, is it?" Erlainia asked, still brandishing the blade at her. "Because..."

"You're going down!" she warned. "Hard."

"Go ahead then," he taunted, lowering the blade slightly. "If you think you can..."

Not waiting for him to finish, Paige leaped forward to strike out. Hitting him with a flying kick, she watched the demon stagger back before hitting the ground in a heap.

"You're not so tough, are you?" she taunted, carrying on towards him. "I was expecting at least a bit of a challenge."

"Oh, I'm not the challenge here," he replied, swiping at her with his sword. The blade missing her by a few centimetres, the pink G-Force ranger responding by kicking him in the stomach. Her boot clanging against his armour, she couldn't help but feel a strange sensation growing in her stomach. A feeling of unease.

"Then do inform me what the challenge is," she said, sarcastically. "Because it sure as heck isn't you. I've faced tougher challenges than you."

"Like I said," Erlainia replied, throwing another attack at her with his blade. "Maybe I'll get lucky. Probably not. I'm not a fighter, my strength is rather with subterfuge. But, you destroy me and all I've done gets undone. You'll be a ghost again."

As he had spoken, Paige had been getting ready to attack again. His words stopping her mid motion, Erlainia using the moment to hit her with the blunt side of the blade, the strike causing her to double over in pain.

"How's that grab you?" he taunted. "You can defeat me, but can you defeat yourself? Everything that..."

Cutting him off mid sentence, Paige hit him in the face. Bringing out her Metronome Daggers, she contined out on the assault. Their blades biting away through the armour, digging deep into the skin. Erlainia howling in pain, as she hit him with a spin kick.

"You can't destroy me," he challenged, a sadistic look on his face. "Not without destroying yourself in the process."

"My friends are about to die because of you," she retorted. "So, you can forget it. They're the important ones here. They're the ones that are doing good. Which is way more important than anything else right now."

Even as she finished speaking, her Metronome Daggers began to glow with brightly coloured energy. Black for the dark type, and grey for the flying type. Hurling herself forward, Paige struck out with the twin strikes. Cutting a massive cross into the middle of the armour, Erlainia staggering back in pain from the extreme damage. As she landed, Paige was already in motion again. Throwing herself back at the demon, her body began to glow with a bright pink wave of energy, the sight coming to a head as she crashed into him. Feeling the recoil run straight through her, Paige gritted her teeth under her helmet.

"Clefable Double Edge!"

Again staggering back, this time Erlainia was downed. His body exploding into thousands of pieces as he hit the ground. Six coloured shades of energy erupting out of the remains and vanishing into the sky. Even watching them fade, Paige felt herself demorph, quickly realising that she was no longer corporeal.

"Crap."

* * *

Going with the flow, Katie and Duo had teamed up to try and have a better chance against Cobra's Red and Black. Wrapping her arms around the powerless black ranger, Katie felt the two of them turn invisible. While out of view, she tried to blast them with waves of heat, Cobra Red easily taking the blasts.

"This is hot," Duo whispered in her ear. "In all senses of the word. Seriously, I'm sweating like a Rapidash in a..."

"You want me to hold your hand," she retorted, quickly. "Then you'll know hot."

Unfortunately, the two evil rangers heard her. Both of them unleashing blasts of red and black poison type energy towards the spot where they were hiding. Both of them being thrown free by the blast, landing out on the grass.

"Oh bad luck," Cobra Black taunted, the two Cobras advancing on the powerless Poké Rangers. "Which is all the luck you have right now."

Right on cue, the six shades of light fell out of the sky. Instantly reacting with the morphers, the six devices instantly buzzing back into action.

"Oh, I don't know," Katie said, all of them getting back to their feet. Six identical angry looks directed towards the Cobra Rangers. "I think we just got pretty lucky."

"You'll need more than luck to defeat us," Cobra Green taunted, as they brought their morphers up.

"Which we'll find from somewhere," Ryan said. "Let's find out."

"It's time to saddle back up," Xavier remarked. "And about time too."

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

Much to their relief, the six of them instantly transformed into their rangers suits. All of them taking up fighting stances to go against the Cobra Rangers.

"We're back in business," Nahir announced. "Whatever you had planned failed. Epically."

"Oh well, we shall have to remedy that," Cobra Yellow shot back, before Cobra Red spoke up.

"Shall we take this up a notch?" he asked, a smirk in his voice as he and the other Cobra Rangers began to glow with a white light. Quickly transforming into the Silent Strike Megazord, the robot towering above the newly re-empowered rangers.

"Why not," Katie replied. "Transformation time!"

At the command, the six of them transformed into their Eevee forms. The red ranger quickly giving another order straight away.

"Overload Zords! Megazord formation!"

Under the command, the six Zords turned into their robot forms and began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbs and tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. As the Megazord stood up straight, it stretched out its arms.

"Clash of the titans," Duo quipped, the two Megazords heading towards each other. "This ought to be very interesting."

Even as he finished speaking, the Silent Strike Megazord struck out with a punch to the body of the Overload Megazord. Not doing much damage, the attack was quickly countered with a kick. Neither of them willing to give an inch to the opponent.

"Psycho Punch!" Luke yelled, hitting a button in front of him. "Now!"

At the roar from the purple ranger, the Espeon hand of the Overload Megazord came up. Dealing a psychic type energy backed punch into the Silent Strike Megazord, the blow forcing the Cobra's Megazord back.

"They won't get away with that!" Cobra Black shouted, banging his fist against the console in the cockpit of the Silent Strike Megazord. "They think they can beat us!"  
"They will think again!" Cobra Yellow said, smugly. "Tail Strikes!"

Under her order, the arms of the Silent Strike Megazord whipped out repeatedly to crash against the Overload Megazord. Sparks being created by the impact of metal against metal.

"I'm thinking Genesis Blaster," Xavier said. "Blast the crap out of it."

"Yeah, because that did the trick last time," Nahir retorted, sarcastically. "Think we should use the old Element Overload on it."

"That's not a guarantee of destruction," Katie pointed out. "Not on this thing."

"It's good enough for everything else," Ryan remarked, folding his arms. "Why should this be..."

"Plan A," Katie said. "Genesis Blaster! Psybeam!"

At the command, the Overload Megazord brought up the weapon from the compartment in the Vaporeon leg. Blasting out a multicoloured beam of psychic type energy towards the Silent Strike Megazord, the beam enough to send it stuttering back.

"Genesis Staff!" Katie yelled. "Now!"

"Serpent Sabre!" Cobra Red roared.

Under the twin orders, the two weapons appeared. The Megazords instantly locking them together in a clash, more sparks rising up as metal met metal. Breaking them away, the two machines clashed them against each other again.

"What the hell," Luke said. "Might as well try it. If nothing else, we'll cause some carnage."

"Element Overload!" Katie shouted, hitting the buttons in front of her. Readying the attack to be used, the blade began to glow with light.

"Toxic Slash!" Cobra Red roared, unleashing the Silent Strike Megazord's own finishing move. The blade starting to glow with a purple energy, before striking out to clash against the stomach of the Overload Megazord. At the same time, the Genesis Staff crashed into the enemy Megazord. For three, four, five moments the two of them hung there, locked in combat. The powerful energy attacks racing into the systems of each Megazord, the rangers inside desperately trying to hold on...

* * *

... Until a thunderous crash rang out across the two giant robotic structures. The explosive blasts throwing them both back, the Megazords disassembling under the force. On one side of the field, the regular Poké Rangers landed on the grass, while the Cobra Rangers landed on the other side. Everyone weakened by the attacks that had raced through their systems. Groaning in pain, Cobra Red got to his feet. Eager to continue the fight, but weakened by the assault.

"You got lucky this time, rangers!" he snapped. "We're going to retreat for now, but we'll be back."

"We're counting on it," Duo shot back. "Don't stay away too long. We wouldn't want to miss you too much."

Ignoring the quip, the six evil rangers vanished out of sight. Leaving the Genesis Rangers alone in the field.

"Thank Arceus we got through that alive," Xavier groaned. "Anyone else relieved?"

"Incredibly," Nahir said. "This was a messy day. At least we're all unharmed and all's well that ends well."

"Well, not everything," Katie remarked. "There still is one thing that I need to do."

"And what's that?" Ryan wondered, glancing over at her. "Anything good?"

* * *

"Seriously, Paige!" Katie said, angrily. The ghost stood in front of her on the deck of the Silver Gyarados, looking very apologetic. "What were you thinking? That was reckless, stupid, dangerous... I mean, how could you not see that the demon was evil? Was being corporeal really that important to you?"

"I accept it was a moronic thing to do," Paige admitted, quickly holding her hands up to stop the verbal barrage. "I'm sorry, okay."

"Well," Katie said, slowly. "I suppose you did remedy the situation. Seriously, don't ever do anything like that again."

"I just was sick of being a ghost," Paige groaned. "Not being able to affect the world around me..."

"We'll find a way to return you to normal," Katie insisted, picking up a bottle of water to take a drink. "Just be patient. That's all I ask of you."

"I think it might be managed," Paige remarked, a smile creeping across her face as she reached out towards the bottle. "Besides, I might have picked up a few new tricks along the line..."

Much to Katie's surprise, the ghost took the water bottle, easily able to hold it.

"Impressed, right?"

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Well, a little blast from the past two seasons there. The demon from SDI and Paige's morphing into the old G-Force costume.**

**Promise that there is a point to what's happening with Paige. And as for any questions as to what exactly happened to the Genesis powers in this chapter... I also promise that all will be revealed shortly. Probably in about the next ten chapters.**

**Okay, so thanks for the reviews. All appreciated.**

**Anyway, the next one is entitled Inner Beasts. Preview below, up soon, yadda yadda yadda.**

**Just from the title, did anyone not guess that a demon was going to be in the chapter? Heh.**

**Okay, so thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Please! Errrr... For this chapter, Dorlinda will be replying to reviews.**

* * *

**Chapter Twelve, Inner Beasts, preview.**

**Jake: Go forth and wreak havoc.**

**Luke: What was that for?**

**Nahir: You know what it was for.**

**Luke: I haven't seen you all morning.**

**Bill: Oh crap, there's two Luke's on the loose.**

**Lance: One with all his negative personality aspects...**

**Nahir: And the clone of him.**

**Luke: Very funny.**

* * *

**Coming soon.**


	12. Inner Beasts

Chapter Twelve. Inner Beasts.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As a homeless, powerless demon was attacked by the Cobra Rangers, a plan was put into motion to defeat the rangers. The crux being an annoyed Paige who spoke of her anger at still being a ghost. As she made a deal with a strange smokey figure, the implications and the cost became apparent when the rangers were unable to morph. Working out what had happened, the six rangers went to face the Cobra Rangers, while Paige went looking for the last demon, Erlainia. As she dealt the final blow to the demon, the powers returned to the rangers while she went back to being a ghost. As the Genesis Rangers morphed, the fight went to the Megazords. The Overload Megazord fighting the Silent Strike Megazord to a draw before the Cobras retreated. After the battle, Katie took it upon herself to have a go at Paige. The former pink ranger revealing that she could now at least affect the environment around her..._

* * *

"So, what's the plan?" Duo asked, looking at all the useless pieces of machinery in the cabin in front of them. After Paige's little misadventure, Bill had made the choice that he needed to tidy out the cabins full of junk in the lower decks. "We dump it in the ocean then go for a break?"

"You can't dump it in the ocean," Katie protested, kicking over a pile of CD's. "This stuff could choke a Magikarp."

"Like we're going to care if we choke a few Magikarp," Luke commented, bending down to drag an old monitor out of the alcove where it was stored. "Not a great Pokémon, is it? Anyway, isn't that ring pulls off cans of stuff that choke them?"

"You'd know, since your family makes them," Nahir pointed out. "Huh?"

"Yeah, but we don't make them with the intention of strangling Magikarp," Luke protested. "That's not the proper and correct policy of use. We even print a warning on the back telling drinkers not to throw them on the ground, into oceans, forests and volcano's, etc."

"Do you?" Ryan asked. "Because I've drank a ton of Sunder-ade while in this region and..."

"Well, it's something that we should do," Luke retorted, folding his arms and cutting the green ranger off in mid sentence. "Speaking of Sunder-ade, I could do with a quick drink of it."

"I'm wondering, actually," Xavier said, speaking up from behind a shelf full of books. "If you make enough of a noise, can you get a free bottle or can of the stuff. Because your family makes it?"

"No, but in the long run, I get the money back."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph on the Coppinger Aerial Platform. Dogbots attack, and lose the fight._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The former rangers wave at the camera, before fading away._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"Here we go," Xavier groaned, finishing dragging the set of shelves up onto the main deck. Having done it with the help of Ryan and Luke. "Where do you want it?"

"Tell me it's not over the side," Luke gasped. "Because... Can't we just burn it?"

"Too much effort," Ryan said. "Can't we just leave it and let the ravages of time take over?"

"Actually, I never wanted this up here," Bill remarked, looking over at the shelves. "They were meant to stay down there. These are classic Ecruteak workmanship shelves, worth a stack of cash, especially since the place went out of business. You burn them and I'll be upset. If you're dragging valuable items like this up, I'll be going down to check on the progress of the others."

As he vanished away through the door towards the lower deck, Luke shook his head in dismay.

"All that effort," he said, disdainfully. "I think we should throw it over the side anyway."

"I'm game for that," Ryan remarked. "Because, he obviously valued it so much that he kept it down in the dark and forgot about it."

"Guys, no," Xavier said, quickly. "If this is as valuable as he said, then we probably shouldn't. Let's just get it back downstairs."

"Actually, I've got a better idea," Luke remarked. "You drag it back down and we'll go and grab you a drink from the closest city. Some Sunder-ade."

"Hey, what?" Xavier asked, the two rangers making a run for it. "Wait, get back here!"

* * *

"That's got to suck for the boss," Hawk remarked, sagely. "He has two plans in quick succession and they both bomb."

"He gave the order for the Cobras to be created," Jake said, not really having any sympathy for Dennis in his mind. "It's his problem. If they try to interfere with our plans, then we shall wipe them out. Do what he was unable to do."

"What is our next great plan?" Hawk asked. "Do we even have one? I thought that we're just making things up as we go along."

"Well, you thought wrong then, didn't you?" Jake retorted. "I've come by information of a most valuable nature. Valuable in the aspect that it could lead us to a Genesis artefact."

"Oh really?" Hawk said, his interest raised by the comment. "So, where do we go? What do we need to track down?"

"Either way," Jake said, ignoring the question. "We need to act fast. Very fast before either the rangers, or the other rangers get wind of what we're doing. There's apparently a message from the heavens engraved somewhere within the region that will lead us to one of the artefacts."

"Engraved somewhere within the region?" Hawk asked, incredulously. "That narrows it down to about eight billion possible locations."

"Yeah, but I don't like to hear about odds," Jake said, rolling his eyes. "I have already come up with a way to get past this."

"Really?" Hawk replied, as Jake walked on over towards a desk, pulling out a Poké Ball from a draw within the item. "And what would that be?"

Tapping the Poké Ball, Jake let a Xatu out from containment inside. The flying type Pokémon giving him a dirty look as it landed on the desk.

"Interesting," Hawk said. "Use this thing to see the future."

"Well, not exactly," Jake answered, bringing his hand up to place on the Xatu's head. The creature instantly bringing its beak back to peck him, he ignored the pain. A wave of black energy moving down across the feathered body of the Pokémon, the creature already transforming as the desk underneath collapsed. Stretching out its arms, the new monster stood up straight. Much to the surprise of Hawk, the Xatu had taken on characteristics made by a Weavile. While the body was still feathered, the down now mainly black with some white and green in there. The beak was still there, only now upon the face of a Weavile which the body had now become. The wings were still there, but a lot shorter than before. Looking at them, Hawk wouldn't have bet that they would be able to have carried the monster up off the ground. The feathered arms had huge claws at the end, while the creature didn't have a crest like most Weavile did.

"I am Claxtu. Seer of the future," he said. "What do you need?"

"I am Jake," Jake replied, folding his arms. "That is Hawk. We brought you here, because we need your help."

"Well, aren't you polite," Claxtu said. "Of course I can do what you need. I can find anything. But, I need some time to gather up my energy. To power up my Future Sight to the level that is required. Something that is powered by a bit of chaos."

"Go forth and wreak havoc!" Jake ordered. "It's the name of the game! If it'll help you."

"Well, aren't you a good person to work for," Claxtu replied. "Think I'm going to like it here."

With those words hanging in the air, he vanished away in a puff of feathers.

"Nice to get a polite one," Hawk commented. "You think he'll do anything?"

"We can hope."

* * *

"Ah, I love Sunder-ade!" Ryan exclaimed, as he and Luke came out of the convenience store. Both of them carrying bags full of the stuff down the street. "You think I can get a discount because I drank over a hundred cans of it in the last years?"

"Why would we give you a discount?" Luke asked. "Buy and drink a thousand cans a day, we might do it."

"Is that a challenge?" the green ranger wondered. "Because I will do it. Damn right, I'll do it. Come on, buy me a thousand cans and I'll drink them in a day."

"Might just drop you in one of the vats in the factory," Luke commented. "That'll do you."

"Hey hell yeah!" Ryan said, punching the air. "Name a place where and when you want and need me to do it and..."

"I wasn't being serious," Luke replied, before the sound of an explosion erupted out over the horizon. "But apparently whatever caused that is. Let's go check it out."

"Ever think that it might just be a natural explosion?" Ryan asked, dropping the bottles of Sunder-ade in the closest trashcan. "You're paying me back for them if it's not an emergency."

* * *

"Looks like I don't owe you a thing," Luke remarked, the two of them spotting Claxtu attacking the people of Sione Beach. "So, hard luck."

"Damn you," Ryan complained, as the monster threw a passing jogger against a wall. The woman yelling in pain, as she slid down to the ground.

"You get her," Luke said, making a break towards the monster. "I'm going to kick this big guy's ass."

"Sweet," Ryan commented. "Check on the girl. About time I got a sweeter than sweet task."

Watching the green ranger head on over towards her, Luke turned to head towards the monster. Claxtu having looked towards the sky, almost as if he was sucking something in from the night sky. His body starting to glow with a light blue energy.

"Come on then," Luke said, reaching out to grab the monster by the arm. Determined to drag it out of the state of whatever it was doing. "Let's be having you then..."

Cutting him off, the monster jerked his arm up to force Luke back. One of its claws cutting away into Luke's skin, the purple ranger instantly reacting as something shot across the surface of his brain. Almost as if he was watching the scene from above.

_The first thing he heard been the sound of laughter. The second being a Meowth humanoid with an extremely large coin on his forehead who was dancing under a disco ball. A Machop-like creature wearing a black belt holding the pole up that the item was supported from. Next to him was a NineTales humanoid, a half Aggron/half Magnezone and a Sharpedo humanoid, all of them trying to move away as quickly as possible._

_"With no Poké Rangers standing in our way," the Meowth monster laughed. "The Great Puree will make everyone bow down before Master BoneShaman!"_

_"You got your name wrong again, Purrie," the Sharpedo humanoid remarked, reaching over to tap Purrie on the shoulder._

_"Damnit, SharpMariner!" Purrie complained. "Why does this keep happening to me? What's next? A different Green Ranger popping out of nowhere?"_

_Right on cue, a blast of energy burst out of nowhere, crashing into the disco ball above the Meowth monster. Causing it to crash down on top of his head, trapping it inside the giant shiny ball. A green clad figure striding over the horizon, his Defense Blaster out._

_"The monsters they make these days are nothing compared to the demons I've faced ten years ago," the green SDI ranger remarked, at the scene in front of him._

_Shaking it off his head, The Great Purrie shot a quick look over at his assailant. The mouth dropping open in shock._

_"No!" he yelled. "It's another Green Ranger!"_

_Dropping the weapon back into its holster, the other Luke on the scene of battle brought out the Lugia Lancer._

_"Time to see if I still got it."_

Instantly jerking back out of the vision, Luke threw out a hand, pushing Claxtu back. His head swimming from what had just happened, coupled with the loss of blood from his wound meant that he wasn't sure what was real anymore. Doing his best to jump up, he hit the monster with a spinning roundhouse kick to the face, forcing it back.

"You're not worth it right now," Claxtu taunted. "I'll be back. Soon."

"And we'll be waiting," Ryan warned, as the monster vanished from view. His attention immediately turning towards the wounded purple ranger. "Awww, jeez, that's messy. Are you okay?"

"Little light headed," Luke admitted, slightly unsteady on his feet. "I'm fine though. Just... Maybe need a little medical attention."

* * *

"Hey," Bill said, glancing over as Luke walked into the room. "You bring back the Sunder-ade?"

"Sunder-ade?" Luke asked, looking a little puzzled. "Errr... No. I didn't. Forgot. Something strange just..."

"Are you feeling okay?" the PokéManiac asked. "Because..."

"On the contrary, I've never felt better," he replied. "I guess that..."

"Anyway, back to work then, if that's the case," Bill said, clapping his hands together. "Chop chop."

"Work?" Luke asked. "What are you...?"

"Clearing out my junk... ahem... I mean valuables," Bill said. "I think everyone's still working away like Bidoof down there. And where the heck is Ryan? Many hands make light work."

"So why aren't you helping then?" Luke asked. "You've got hands. Two of them."

"I'm supervising from afar," Bill said. "Lance is... What's the technical term. Helping."

"Guess I'll go down and 'help' then," the purple ranger said, making an air quote sign with his fingers. "For want of a better term."

"You sure that you're okay?" the PokéManiac asked. "Because you seem a little off."

"Never better."

* * *

"Hey," Luke said, walking out into the storage room that the rangers had been working on earlier. Finding it deserted. "Anyone here? Is this the right place?"

"Well, you wouldn't know, would you?" the sarcastic voice of Nahir called out, emerging from behind some shelves. "Since you've been doing your best to bail out of it for the last few hours."

"Nahir?" he asked. "You're in here? Of course, it's about that time."

"What half eleven?" she asked, glancing over at the clock in the corner. "Oh, wait a second..."

"That clock's broken," Luke muttered, under his breath. Not loud enough to be heard.

"That clock's broken," the yellow ranger said, coming out from where she had been. "That would explain why it's down here."

"It's good to see you again," he said, moving over to her. "Look at you. There's a..."

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You seem weirder than normal. Which is some pretty high standards to better."

"Funny," Luke replied. "That's all was been one of your... Not really funny but rather that bitingly sarcastic way. Especially where I'm concerned."

"Well, what can I say," she said. "I save it..."

"Exactly just for you," Luke replied, finishing the sentence for her. "Or me as it rather would have been. It's touching. Very touching."

"You're definitely crashed on something," she remarked. "Have you been taking morphine?"

"No..." he said. "I've not. Really. And why do people keep asking me if I'm okay?"

Moving over to her, he placed a hand on her arm. Smiling down at her.

"Not that I don't appreciate the concern. I can take it pretty much on the chin from Bill, but when you ask about me like that..."

He paused for breath, the smile growing even wider by the second. Leaning ever closer to her, his voice lowering an octave, he carried on speaking again.

"... I'm going to be honest. It really touches me deeply. Then again, you always did have that side to you."

His lips inches from hers, Nahir finally spoke up. A mixture of surprise and shock in her voice.

"What ARE you doing?"

Almost able to hear the capitals in her question, Luke took a step back. Running a hand through his hair in amazement.  
"Wrong time," he muttered. "Damnit, almost screwed things up. Need to get out of here before something bad happens."  
Without hesitating, he quickly took another step back away from her. Making to turn.  
"Just forget all about this," he insisted, turning tail to run out of the door.

"Seriously, what's wrong with you?" Nahir demanded, calling out after him. "Just when I thought that you couldn't get any weirder. Next time I see you, you better start explaining things."

* * *

"Okay, I'm back," Luke announced, walking out into the bridge of the Silver Gyarados. Holding his bandaged hand up as an explanation. "Fine and dandy. Anyone miss me?"

Looking over to him, Nahir shot him a smile. Something that quickly vanished, as she strode towards him.

"I could have done with you staying gone," she snapped, bringing back her hand to slap him across the face. Much to his surprise.

"What was that for?" the purple ranger demanded, favouring his cheek. "Is that the stage we've got to now?"

"You know what it was for," Nahir snapped. "Jerk!"

"Seriously, what are you talking about?" Luke asked, before Paige walked over and slapped him. Much to his anger.

"Hey, what gives?"

"Sorry, Luke," Paige replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Thought it looked like fun. Plus, it's karma for all those ghost quips."

"Anyway, have you lost your short term memory now?" Nahir demanded. "Or are you blanking out what happened half an hour ago?"

"Nahir, I haven't seen you all morning," Luke said. "I've only just got back from having medical attention. I've been with Ryan all morning. Not apparently screwing around downstairs with ten legions of crap."

"Thanks for that, by the way," Bill called. "I do appreciate it."

"I still don't believe you," Nahir said. "Where is Ryan, anyway?"

"Last time I saw him," Luke replied, holding his bandaged hand up. "Well, it was when we came out of ER. He said that he had something to take care of, but if we needed him to kill some huge monster then call."

"Only one way to confirm it," Bill said, activating the communication console in front of him. "Let's find out where Ryan is."

Not much time passed before they heard the sound of the green ranger's voice on the other end of the line.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, this is Bill," the PokéManiac said, glancing at the monitor. "Ryan, where are you?"

"Ah, I'm just in the middle of something," the green ranger said. "I'm currently... What's up?"

"Was Luke with you all morning?" Nahir asked. "Because if he wasn't, then he might end up..."

"Yeah, he had his hand hacked up by a monster," Ryan replied. "He was pretty out of it, so I went with to check that he didn't wander into the traffic by mistake."

"Is this some lie that the two of you came up with?" Nahir asked. "Because..."

"Just drop it okay!" Luke said. "Jeez."

"All of this would seem to add up to one thing," Duo remarked. "We have a huge problem."

"Oh crap," Bill said, shaking his head. "There's two Lukes on the loose."

"One with all his negative personality aspects..." Lance started to say, a gravely worried look on his face.

"And the clone of him," Nahir butted in, a smirk on her face. "I'm sorry, but how bad could it be?"

"Very funny," Luke said, glancing at her. "You should be on the stage. Preferably at the end of a noose. Which rhymes with loose. So back to the main point..."

"Wait, are you saying that I need hanging?" the yellow ranger asked. "Luke, for the love of Arceus, what's wrong with you."

"Never mind," Luke said, taking a step back away from the rest of the group. "I need to..."

"How do we even know that's the real Luke?" Xavier asked. "Because..."

"It's me, Xavier," Luke insisted. "I was with Ryan all morning."

"But how do we..."

"Is this really the important thing?" Katie asked. "Because there's a monster out there, as well as a possibly evil version of Luke. I think that they're possibly the biggest threats right now, rather than wondering about Luke."

"Thank you," the purple ranger replied.

"So, we need to split up," she continued. "Luke, go find your other self. If you were in this situation, where would you go? Follow your instinct. The rest of us need to go look for Claxtu."

"Catch you on the flip side," Luke said. "Oh, and if you see me again, and I don't yell something outrageous out, shoot me."

"Can be arranged," Xavier quipped. "I'm sure if we gave Nahir a blaster, she'd oblige greatly."

* * *

"Good morning, Mr. Sunderland," the receptionist said, as the purple ranger strode into the building. Looking up at him with a smile. "Very nice to see you again."

"Ah, good afternoon... Stacey," Luke replied, peering down at her name tag. "How's the kids?"

"I don't have any."

"Terrific," he said. "Listen, this might sound like an odd question, but have you seen me at all in the last few hours?"

"You went upstairs to your office half an hour ago," Stacey reported. "But, surely you knew that."

"Of course I did," he replied, masking what he was really feeling with a grin. "Just testing you. Testing that you're honest. If you weren't, you might have said no. Lied about it. Even given a shake of the head to try and be more convincing."

"Is there much more of this?" she asked. "Or can I get back to doing the job that your family's company pays me for?"

"Carry on, Stacey," he said. "Thanks for being honest."

Not hearing the last part as he moved towards the elevator, Luke moved a hand down to his wrist. Subconsciously readying the morpher for use with whatever went down upstairs.

* * *

Stepping out of the elevator into the corridor on the eleventh floor of the Sunderland office block, Luke's eyes immediately fell to the door at the end of the hallway. His home away from home. Although he hadn't been in for a few weeks, the place he came when not on ranger duty and did his bit for the family business.

"Here goes nothing," he muttered, his hand still on the morpher as he approached the door. Ignoring the strange looks that the employees gave him over the way he was creeping towards the door.

"Are you okay, sir?" someone asked, only to be ignored. "Sir?"

"Everything's fine," Luke said, barely paying attention. "If you hear anything in my office, just ignore it. It's just some business that might need attending to. Could be a violent meeting with..."

"Your business, Mr. Sunderland," the office worker replied. "Unless we hear screams, we won't..."

"Yeah, probably not a good idea," Luke said. "Even if it's me doing the screaming."

Pushing on down the corridor, he placed his hand on the door handle. Moving it open, he forced his way into the room. Shutting the door behind him...

... Only for something to come barreling into him from the left, tackling him down to the ground. Grunting in pain, Luke tried to force the figure off him. Bringing his knee up into the stomach of the figure, it immediately let out a yell of pain.

"Okay, I give!" the other version of Luke complained. "I'm not here to hurt you. Rather the opposite actually. Just give me a moment and listen..."

* * *

"So, you're a version of me from the future?" Luke asked, glancing at the other him. "Wait, how does that work?"

"As far as I can guess, when Claxtu scratched you, the impacts of the Future Sight created me," Future Luke replied. "Your appearance, but I'm sorta... mixed. I've got the memories of what you did this morning, but also what I was doing after the fight ended. About a decade's worth of memories jumbled in, and not in any real order. Just stuff that's relevant. I'm an anomaly in creation. There's probably a version of me in the future carrying on what I was doing which is a relief because I don't want to be responsible for crashing the whole thing. Which I don't know what, I don't remember what I was doing. It's kinda hazy. All I see is a Meowth monster and my SDI morpher."

"Wait a second..." Present Luke interrupted. "Do we win? Against the Coppingers?"

"It doesn't matter what I tell you because I don't know," Future Luke replied. "The future is a constantly shifting, changing, pulsating..."

"Do I end up saying things like that all the time in the future?" Present Luke asked, folding his arms. "Because, I think I'd probably kick my own ass if that was the case."

"What can I say," Future Luke said, shrugging. "I mellowed out a lot. Especially after..."

"After what?"

"Never mind," the future version of him asked. "All I'm going to say is that she's worth it."

"Huh?" Present Luke asked. "She? Are we thinking about the same person here?"

"Well, nobody knows your mind like you," Future Luke replied. "Except perhaps me. I made a slight calculation of error earlier and... Don't let it put you off. I wasn't quite sure where I was, I may have acted inappropriately... Apologise to Nahir for me."

"Apologise yourself," Present Luke retorted, holding up his morpher. "Your actions, your..."

"I'm not interfering any more," Future Luke replied. "Not a chance. I almost screwed the future up a few hours ago. It's not going to happen again."

"Okay then..." Present Luke said. "So, where do you go from here? I don't think that this place could handle two of us."

"That's true," Future Luke admitted. "We're like a powerful force of nature. As much as I hate to say it, I don't think my future looks very bright."

* * *

"We've got a read on Claxtu," Bill reported, looking up from his console. "He's just outside Sione Beach. Can't quite see what he's doing, but..."

"It's not important," Katie said. "As long as he's not building a massive energy weapon that can hit us from anywhere in the region..."

"Yeah, I doubt that's going to happen," Duo remarked. "I mean... There would be signs."

"Anyway then," Nahir offered. "No matter what it is, we should get going. No time to waste."

"Let's get going," Xavier said. "Bill, are you going to get in touch with Ryan and Luke for them to join us at some point."

"I'll get on it," the PokéManiac replied, as the four rangers brought their morphers up to activate.

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

"Maybe if we spoke to Dorlinda..." Present Luke offered, suddenly breaking the silence. "Maybe he could come up with some sort of..."

"He'll just want to kill me," Future Luke muttered. "Something about me not being able to exist. I don't know what's going to happen to me. Maybe I'll just be waiting here and I'll pop out of existence. Without a trace. Or maybe my existence is linked to Claxtu. While he exists, I can also survive."

"Well, that's got to suck," Present Luke commented. "How the heck are you coping?"

"Surprisingly well," the future version of him replied. "Oh, and by the way, you're going to get a call from Bill in the next few moments."

Even as Present Luke was about to dispute the claim, the morpher went off. Bill's voice coming out into the room at the touch of a button.

"Luke, you there?" the PokéManiac asked. "We need you over to Sione Beach right now. The others are tracking Claxtu."

"Oh..." the purple ranger replied, sounding upset. "I'll be over as soon as possible."

"All right then," Bill said, before hanging up on the other end of the line.

"You have to go," Future Luke said. "Our friends depend on it. Don't worry about the consequences of what happens to me."

Nodding at the words, Present Luke got to his feet and brought his morpher up.

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

Scratching away at the ground below him, Claxtu felt the end of his claws scrape against something. Something small and metallic, yet overflowing with power. Laughing wildly as he pulled it up out of the ground...

"It's mine! All mine!"

... Several shots rang out from behind him, crashing into his back and forcing him into dropping the small golden jewel. The item falling away into the long grass.

"No!" the mutant howled, turning around to see all six rangers levelling their sidearm weapons at him. Five Genesis Blasters and a pair of Heat Blasters.

"Put the jewel down!" Ryan warned. "Or we'll put you..."

"He already dropped it," Nahir pointed out. "So, it's an irrelevant threat."

"Gah!" Claxtu snarled, throwing a Poké Ball at them. The orb having been removed from somewhere on his person. "Dogbots, attack!"

As the metallic Houndour soldiers appeared from out of the item, the rangers took up fighting stances.

"These clowns are no match for us!" Duo remarked, shaking his head. "Experience."

"Let's get them!" Xavier yelled, the six rangers bringing out their weapons before leaping into the fray.

* * *

As Claxtu wandered away from the action, searching for the jewel, Duo hacked several Dogbots to pieces with his Shadow Sabre. The metal meeting metal with dangerous intent, he spun around on the spot and impaled a final one through the stomach. Dragging her Storm Staff up, Nahir managed to herd three of them all into a tight group with little room to move. Swinging the weapon forward, she sent a sharp zap of electricity through them, the three robotic soldiers all dropping down in a pile. Unable to continued. Across from them, Luke and Ryan struck out with their Psycho Spear and Fauna Hammer respectively, hacking and slashing their way through the relatively small hoardes of the machines. None of them able stand up against the onslaught, one barely managed to get away from the cull, before having its head removed by the Tidal Trident. Xavier's attack striking well and true. Bringing it back away, he swept it up against another behind him, the Dogbot flailing up into the air before it was shot by Katie with one of her Heat Blasters to finish the group off.

Regrouping, they all looked over at Claxtu, the mutant still searching for what he had dropped earlier. Seemingly in vain.

"You're done for, Claxtu!" Luke yelled. "Now, surrender!"  
"Errr... How about no!" the monster shot back, unleashing a blast of dark type energy towards the six rangers. All of them thrown back by the blast, groaning in pain.

"Come on, rangers!" Katie shouted, using the two Heat Blasters to help herself up to her feet. The rest of her fellow rangers doing the same behind her. "We have to finish him off."

"Let's put them together!" Duo said, as he, Nahir, Luke, Ryan and Xavier slotted their weapons together to create the Pentasis Blaster. Meanwhile, Katie formed the Flareon Battle Rifle, the six rangers quickly levelling the two weapons at the mutant monster.

"You got any last words?" Luke asked, taking the weapon from Duo. "If there's anything that you pray to, then you might want to!"

"You can't stop me!" Claxtu roared, striding towards them. "Not even close!"

"Pentasis Blaster!" Luke shouted. "Fire!"

"Flareon Fury!" Katie yelled, both of them pulling the triggers of the weapons. Unleashing twin high powered beams of energy towards the monster, the blasts easily destroying him. His remains falling away to the ground, as the two rangers lowered their weapons.

"Is that it?" Duo asked. "His squawk was worse than his beak. Or something to that effect."

* * *

"Useless," Jake muttered, he and Hawk watching the action taking place in a half full bath of water in front of them. "Time to take it up a notch."

"I was hoping that you'd say that," Hawk said, rubbing his hands together in glee. "Woo!"

"Darkness rising," the Coppinger called, throwing a wave of black energy into the pool.

Instantly at the battle scene, the dark type energy erupted up out of the ground, surrounding the remains of Claxtu. The monster instantly reanimating up to his feet, growing to a giant size.

"This time, I'm going to win!" the mutant monster yelled, his voice growing to match his size.

"You're going down again, Claxtu!" Luke shouted. "Time to transform!"

At the order from the purple ranger, the six of them morphed into their Eevee forms. Luke speaking up again very quickly.

"Overload Zords! Megazord formation!"

Under the command, the six Zords turned into their robot forms and began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbs and tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. As the Megazord stood up straight, it stretched out its arms.

"You can't defeat Claxtu!" the monster said, moving over to strike the giant robot with a claw. Sparks racing up across the machine, as gashes were left across the surface of the body, the Megazord staggering back. In response, Katie directed the Overload Megazord into kicking the mutant in the stomach. Growling in anger, Claxtu hit back with a Night Slash. More scratches and dents rising up across the armour.  
"Time for a different strategy," Luke yelled. "Shock you down to size! Genesis Blaster! Charge Beam!"

At the command, the giant robotic Overload Megazord reached down to the Vaporeon leg and removed the weapon from the compartment. Bringing it up, it pulled the trigger to unleash a powerful beam of electrical energy out into Claxtu. The monster screeching in pain as it staggered back away from the Overload Megazord.

"You don't like that, huh?" Xavier shouted. "Eat it, monster!"

Quickly moving back into the action, Claxtu launched several Peck attacks towards the face of the Megazord. The blows landing away with vicious intent, the dents cropping up across the surface of the head of the robot.

"Hey, hands off the face!" Katie shouted. "Genesis Staff!"

Again under the orders of the ranger, the weapon appeared in the hands of the Megazord. Instantly cutting away towards the body of the monster, Claxtu squawking in pain as the blade bit through the feathers.

"You're going down, Bird brain!" Luke yelled. "Element Overload!"

The weapon sweeping up into the air, the blade began to glow with energy. Sweeping down, it hit Claxtu with six different slashes, each slash glowing with red, black, blue, green, yellow and purple before exploding across the body of the monster. As he staggered back, Claxtu fell to the ground and exploded. The only remnant of his prior existence being the flames on the grass.

"Whew, he's gone," Katie said, leaning back in her seat. "That's a relief."

"Are we going to go and see what he was looking for?" Nahir asked. "I mean... It could be important."

"Guess we better go for it," Luke said, absentmindedly. His thoughts were elsewhere, rather back with his future self in the office and what had happened to him on the destruction of the thing that had created him.

* * *

Still sat in the office in the Sunderland building, Future Luke felt it. Somehow, he knew that Claxtu had been defeated. And that his time in existence was up. The anomaly that he was was about to become corrected, he thought with a small yet sad smile.

Something that was still on his face when he vanished away into nothing, moments later. Leaving no trace behind that he'd ever been there.

* * *

"This is what Claxtu was looking for," Luke said, reaching out with the power of his mind to pluck the small golden item up off the ground. Taking it in his palm, he held it up to the light, showing it to the other rangers. "Whatever it may..."

Completely cutting him off, the item in his hand began to glow with a powerful golden light. The force of the energy rushing out from the jewel, showering across the wet grass below them. Forming away into writing. Luminous golden letters, easily visible in the semi darkness.

"And I guess we now know why," Nahir commented, looking down at the writing. "This must be a clue to the next artefact. Same deal as before. Wheel Hang Evice North..."

"Bill?" Katie asked, speaking into her morpher. "Can you drag the satellite over our location and get some pictures of the writing on the ground. Seems like it's going to be so much easier than doing it from down here."

"Sure, will do," the PokéManiac replied. "If you leave now, I should have them by the time you get back to the Silver Gyarados."

"Well, I guess we'll be on our way then," Duo said, making to leave. "No time to lose."

* * *

"Hey."

Looking up to the entrance of his cabin aboard the Silver Gyarados, Luke saw Nahir sticking her head around the door. A look of concern on her face, possibly directed at him. He honestly didn't know.

"What's up?" he asked. "What's going on?"

"Just wanted to apologise from earlier," she said. "It wasn't you that I needed to slap. I made a mistake."

"It's okay," the purple ranger replied, holding his bandaged hand up to the light. "Hurt more when that happened."

"So... how much was the future version of you like you?" she asked. "Did you see much of yourself in there, or do you end up completely different?"

"I think we're more similar than anyone realises," Luke admitted. "I saw a lot of the current me in there. But, there was something else there. Something in that guys life that made it so much better."

"What was it? I mean, do you know?"

"I think I might," he replied, looking at her. "In fact, I've got a pretty good idea as to what that thing is."

"Then, why aren't you going for it?" she asked, turning to head out of the room. Leaving the purple ranger alone to digest over her words.

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**So... Two Luke's. And contrary to popular opinion, either of them turned out to be evil.**

**The title being a bit of a red herring. Actually, it was something different to start with, but I changed the plot halfway through.**

**Thanks so much to PikaFlash for the use of that little clip as Luke sees a sight of the future. Containing one of the most legendary Poké Ranger monsters of all time.**

**Also, no Cobras. And they probably won't be in the next one, either. I said probably. But they will definitely be in the one after that.**

**Anyway, thanks for the reviews. All appreciated.**

**The next one is entitled Dead In The Water. Preview below, up soon, etc.**

**Feel like I should include an ad for Sunder-ade here.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review. It'll be Luke replying to them for this chapter. Okay.**

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen, Dead In The Water, preview.**

**Bill: Okay, we're docked up. Need some supplies.**

**Mitchell: We've got a lock on some morphing energy down at the docks.**

**Noland: Time to test something out. My ultimate Dogbot warrior.**

**Mitchell: Soon after they leave land, we'll activate them.**

**Bill: We've got activity down below.**

**Luke: There's a Dogbot on the ship.**

**Katie: What?**

**Duo: That's not a Dogbot!**

* * *

**Coming soon.**


	13. Dead In The Water

Chapter Thirteen. Dead In The Water.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_After Paige's misadventure below deck on the Silver Gyarados, Bill decided that he wanted the place cleaning out. Much to the annoyance of the rangers who were enlisted into the task. Having gotten sick of it, Luke and Ryan made a break for it to go and grab some drinks. While out, they encountered Jake's latest monster, Claxtu. As the monster used Future Sight to try and locate a Genesis artefact, Luke grabbed him and was injured. Unknown to everyone, the act created an anomalous version of Luke from the future. Something that was slowly figured out as Luke went to hunt down his future self. Realising that he meant no harm, Luke had to go and help defeat Claxtu. As the monster was destroyed, the clone faded away and the rangers found what he had been looking for. Luke and Nahir having a moment of reconciliation after the battle..._

* * *

"Come on, Bill!" Duo said, impatiently. "How long does it take to drag these pictures up. We want to see what the message is."

"I'm working as fast as I can!" the PokéManiac replied, almost as irritated as Duo was impatient. "There's bad electrical interference in the atmosphere. It's slowing the signal. And it was already pretty weak."

"We need to see what that message is," Ryan pointed out. "Who knows what else could have seen it while it was there on the landscape. If a Coppinger saw it and deciphered it..."

"That's something that we don't know if they can do though," Nahir remarked. "If they can decipher the thing. It took us a while, so..."

"I don't think we should write the Coppingers off," Bill said. "I mean, they're not stupid. I mean, I'm assuming that they're not. They've come up with some dumb plans, but the parts are probably greater than the whole. Or the other way around. One of the two, I haven't decided yet. Formed a theory."

"Why don't you just get a faster computer?" Luke asked. "Something that moves like..."

"This is already plenty fast enough in normal circumstances," Bill retorted, almost annoyed at the insult to his computer. "It's just that we can't compensate for what the environment is choosing to do at this moment in time."

"That's just complete and utter..." Luke started to say, before a crash rang out from one of the hard drives next to the monitor. Smoke starting to rise up out of it, as Bill reached around the back of it. Pulling out a twisted lump of plastic.

"Well, that's not good," he said, lightly tossing it towards the nearest trash can. "That's most annoying."

"What was it?" Nahir asked. "Why is this a problem?"

"That was a InfSight auto filter," Bill replied. "It was a piece of equipment that meant we'd be able to read the writing on the ground. Something in that writing is making it difficult to read as it is, the filter to get a better view of it just overloaded. The colours were so low density, dark yellow against light green grass means that it's tough to see them with a normal satellite screen. Which makes a picture translation to a photograph even tougher than normal. This filter is..."

"So, what can we do to fix it?" Katie asked, butting in. All of them zoning out at the technical jargon that he was wheeling out to explain the problem.

"We can't," the PokéManiac said, looking around to the rangers. "Need to replace it. Which means we have to dock up and collect the thing. I'll make an e-mail order for it, by the time we get to Cuellar City, it should be ready. The joys of InstaMail."

"Oh."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

Fourteen hours later...

* * *

"Okay, we're docked up," Bill reported, looking around to the two rangers in the bridge behind him. "Need some supplies, as well as that filter."

"Out of all the junk that we've moved away through this place," Duo complained. "You couldn't have kept a spare filter down in there."

"That was the spare filter that went," Bill admitted. "The other one went about two years ago. I never thought I'd be using it much so I never replaced it."

"Oh for crap's sake," Luke said. "Could you have less foresight?"

"Well, I never thought that I'd be using it to chase down what is essentially a glorified crop circle," Bill shot back. "I mean... I don't have a Future Sight ability."

More than anything, the crack seemed to annoy Luke. The purple ranger turning to leave the bridge, just as Katie came in to see what was going on.

"So, what do we have?" she asked. "Is this going to be a big thing to grab, or...?"

"It's a piece of software about the size of a book," Bill replied. "I don't think I'll need a six ranger guard to carry the thing. Just send down someone to make sure that..."

"I'll get Xavier and Luke to go down with you," Katie said. "Both of them aren't busy."

"At least you didn't sign me up for it," Duo commented. "Which is good. I don't do Ponyta work, because I'm not an ass."

"No comment," Bill said.

* * *

"Ah, smell that salt air," Katie remarked, coming out onto deck to watch Xavier, Luke and Bill leave the Silver Gyarados. Ready to make their way towards the small office towards the end of the harbour to pick up the package. "The sound of the Wingull on the horizon. The sight of the land ahoy. The sound of those sailors cursing at each other."

"Do you really have to be so relentlessly cheerful at a time like this?" Ryan asked. "Because..."

"Hey, being at the docks like this does it for me," Katie replied. "Brings that part out in me."

"What, the crazy part?" Nahir asked, as she and Duo came out to watch everything going on below them.

"Hey, crazy's good," Duo commented. "Welcome to my world. Sane is boring. Sometimes."

* * *

"Boss!" Mitchell yelled. "We've got a lock on some morphing energy down at the docks."

"Really?" Noland asked, coming over to have a look for himself. "That's most interesting. This could mean that the rangers are there."

"It could mean that their base of operations is also nearby," Mitchell said. "How goes that early holographic projector? The prototype that you were working on building."

"Oh, I abandoned that," Noland replied. "Holographic projectors probably aren't going to be workable for another ninety years. At least. I've actually been working on an upgrade for the Dogbots."

"The Dogbots are fine," Mitchell said. "They're still competent. Just because they get wrecked a lot..."

"Exactly," Noland replied. "I've been thinking about this. Maybe there's a way to improve the whole lot of them. Make them more competent in combat."

"I'm going to go and take a look down at things," Mitchell remarked. "See exactly what this source of morphing energy is."

With those words, he vanished away in a flash of black light. Leving Noland alone to go back to the computer in front of him.

* * *

Appearing behind a storage crate, Mitchell looked over to the scene in front of him. Seeing Bill, Xavier and Luke walk out of the office, Bill holding a large brown package in his hands.

"This should do the trick," the PokéManiac remarked, fiddling with the end of the packaging. "This'll make everything so much easier. We'll be able to get a better view of those images in no time at all."

"Just a short walk back to the Silver Gyarados," Luke remarked. "Then..."

Not really listening to the rest of the sentence, Mitchell dropped back. Bringing out a cell phone, he quickly dialled the number of the warehouse where he and Noland had quickly moved to as their hideout. The former Frontier Brain quickly answering.

"What?" he asked. "Do you want, Mitchell?"

"I think I might have found out where the rangers are holed up," Mitchell replied. "Boat called the Silver Gyarados. Which is probably where they're hiding any artefacts that they have."

"This is a good thing," Noland said. "We can take advantage of this. If we could sneak... That's probably out."

"What if we could sneak one of our Dogbot balls onto the ship?" Mitchell asked. "Would that work?"

"Probably," Noland replied, reaching down to rummage through the draw in his desk for an empty Dogbot ball. Placing it next to the monitor, he began to hook a cable up to the item, starting to speak again.

"Do you have one on you?" he asked. "A full capsule."

"Yeah, I do," Mitchell replied, reaching around to his back for one of the items. Pulling it out to look at, an interested look on his face. "Why, what's the plan?"

"Time to test something out," Noland said, yanking the cable out of the ball capsule and picking it up. The top half of the item now yellow instead of red. "My ultimate Dogbot warrior. Prepare to receive."

In no time at all, the item vanished. Reappearing in Mitchell's hand, much to the Coppinger Elite's surprise.

"Okay..." he said, folding his arms. "I'll see if I can get them out onto the boat. Just give me a few moments..."

* * *

"Can't believe they'll deliver supplies straight to the waterfront," Duo commented, lifting one of the crates up the ramp towards deck. A van having dropped them off barely minutes earlier, the remaining rangers having spent the time arguing over who was going to transport them up. Eventually, Lance had come onto the scene and broken it up. Telling them all to do it, in the process.

"Oh well," Nahir offered. "At least we don't have to drag them far. Not like those guys who had to go and pick up the filter."

"I bet the filter is a lot lighter than this, though," Ryan groaned, struggling under the crate he was lifting. "Jeez, what's in this thing? Rocks?"

"Why would Bill want rocks?" Katie asked, having gone for one of the lighter crates. "I mean..."

"Why would the crazy fool want anything?" Ryan muttered, spotting something out of the corner of his eye. A Poké Ball sailing out through the air, opening up above them. A shower of black bolts falling out of it, the items hitting the ground to form out into a squadron of Dogbots. The robots letting out a series of mechanical snarls at the rangers.

"Guess this is preferable to lifting," Duo commented, turning himself invisible. The crate vanishing along with him. For a few moments, nothing visible happened. Until something large and heavy crashed down on top of a Dogbot, knocking its head off. As it hit the ground, Duo reappeared with the slightly mangled crate in his hand. Instantly rounding on him, four of the machine soldiers began to chase after him. The black ranger quickly darting back away from the anticipated attacks, while the rest of them moved towards to the other three rangers.

"No rest for the wicked, huh?" Katie asked, moving towards the group. Ducking under the first attack, she kicked one in the leg, grabbing its upper body as it staggered before hurling it towards the ocean. As it went over the side, vanishing into the water, everyone present heard the crackle of electricity rush across the surface. Meanwhile, Nahir used her super speed to burst in and take two of the robots by surprise. Using one as a springboard, she kicked the other in the head, the strike enough to force the metal shape off its shoulders. Throwing her arm around the shoulders of the other, she managed to force it to the ground before kicking it towards the water. Struggling to regain its footing, the robot managed to evade falling into the ocean and get back to its feet. Only for Nahir to surge forward again and knock it back into the water. Across from her, Ryan dropped into a crouching position and hit the ground with his hand. A series of vines erupting out of the concrete, impaling two of the Dogbots on their peaks. Hurling himself forward, Ryan managed to knock both of them into the water off their makeshift perches.

As he moved away from the crates, Mitchell reached out from behind cover and placed the two Poké Balls into one of them. Moving away quickly...

"Hey! Look out!"

Instantly flinching at the shout, he glanced up to see if he'd been rumbled...

... Only for Paige to jump down onto the scene, one remaining Dogbot left on the scene. Making to throw a punch at the thing, her hand passed straight through its head, dealing no damage at all to the robot.

"Oh come on!" she exclaimed, angrily. "After that grand entrance as well."

The next thing Mitchell saw was the arrival of Xavier, Luke and Bill into the immediate area. The two rangers immediately taking up fighting stances.

"Oh well," he said, not bothering to watch the rest of the battle. His mission was done, what happened next was of no concern to him. As he moved away, he heard the crunching sound of the robot falling. The next thing he heard being the sound of his phone ringing. Immediately answering it, he heard Noland's voice on the other end of the line.

"So, how did it go?" the former Frontier Brain asked. "Did you manage to get it done?"

"Soon after they leave land," Mitchell snickered, looking over at the Silver Gyarados. At the rangers that were still loading crates on board it. "We'll activate them. They won't know what hit them."

"Is that a yes then?"

* * *

"Okay then," Bill said, coming out from behind the hard drive of the computer on the bridge. "That's the filter set. Locked and loaded. Now, we just need to wait for it to sync up with the rest of the system. With the satellite and so on. And it only took half an hour to do it exactly right, enough time to get us away from listening figures on shore.

"Still hanging on and on?" Katie asked, leaning back in her seat. Bringing her attention up from where she had been rubbing something into her foot. "How much longer is this going to take?"

"As long as it can," Duo remarked, sarcastically looking around at her. "What's that about, anyway?"

"Home remedy for preventing bruising," she replied. "I regularly rub it into my skin. Why?"

"Just wondering," the black ranger said, shrugging. "Am I not allowed my curiosity?"

Before Katie could throw a retort at him, a lone alarm began to ring out through the ship. Different from the one that they usually heard to signal a monster attack in Verger, low and constant rather than high and shrill.

"What the heck is that?" Nahir asked. "That alarm's different than the normal one."

"We've got activity down below," Bill reported. "Motion sensor in the engine room..."

As his words tailed away, the Silver Gyarados shuddered to a stop. As much as a hundred ton boat could shudder to a stop. Looking around at each other in surprise, the next thing that the rangers heard was Bill letting out a sound of anger at the way his computer died. The next being the sight of all the lights flashing off, before coming back on.

"Emergency power?" Ryan asked, instantly getting a reply as Bill nodded at him.

"That can't be good," Luke commented. "Don't suppose you have a spare engine on board."

"Nope," Lance replied. "Why would we have the need for a spare engine? We've got the parts to repair pretty much..."

Pausing mid sentence, he glanced at the surprised rangers around him. All looking shocked.

"What? I do read the cargo manifesto from time to time."

"Luke, you're closest to the door," Katie said. "You, Nahir and Ryan check it out."

Shaking his head, Luke walked over to the door. Opening it up, he heard the sound of a mechanical whirring. A dark shape jumping out from the shadows, attracted by the movement in his vicinity. Without hesitating, Luke brought his hand up, hurling the Dogbot back with the power of his mind. Sending it smashing against the wall, his shock easily visible.

"There's a Dogbot on the ship!" Luke yelled, throwing himself through the door. "Enemy alert."

"What?" Katie asked, getting up to slip her shoe back on. "What's going on here?"

"Anyone else thinking that the attack down at the docks might have been a diversion?" Xavier wondered. "Because..."

"The attack on the engines," Lance said, looking worried suddenly. "We're dead in the water. Nowhere to go."

"All systems are down," Bill replied, gravely. "We're working on emergency power. Someone needs to go down to the engine room and see how much damage has been done."

"Okay, rangers," Katie said, having been silent for several seconds in order to make a decision. "Here's what we're going to do. If there are Dogbots on the Silver Gyarados, we need to stop them as quickly as possible. Duo, Nahir and Ryan, I want the three of you to go down to the engine room. See what sort of damage has been done, get a report back to Bill and we'll take it from there. Xavier, Luke and I will go looking for any Dogbots that might have spread to other areas of the boat. Lance, you and Bill stay here. You think you can defend yourselves if it comes down to it?"

"I've got my Pokémon with me," Lance offered. "It's not ideal, but..."

"Where's Paige?" Duo asked. "Because..."

"Who cares," Luke said, casually shrugging his shoulders. "It's not like they can hurt her, even if she does walk in on them."

Right on cue, Paige came running in through the wall. Much to the surprise of everyone present.

"Talking of Casper," Luke remarked, ignoring the dirty look that was instantly thrown at him by the ghost.

"You do know there are Dogbots running around the ship?" she asked. "Because..."

"We know," Xavier said. "We're just going to deal with them."

"Oh."

* * *

"I'm getting sick of heading to the lower decks," Ryan commented. "I mean... Why can't they be higher up?"

"Because then you'd still have to go on down to get to them," Nahir said. "Assuming that the higher decks were even higher up. And even if they weren't higher up then the lower decks, you'd have to still travel down to get to the higher decks from the lower decks that are now the higher decks."

"Hmmm..." Ryan retorted. "Now I get it."

"Well, it's not that complicated," the yellow ranger said, smugly. "So..."

"No, not that," he insisted. "Something else. It's just quite cute when you do that."

"Jeez, okay," Duo said, butting into the conversation. "Mind on the mission."

"That's ironic coming from you," Nahir remarked sarcastically, as she pushed the door open to the corridor. "How often do you..."

"That's not important right now," Duo replied, the lack of sound from the engines immediately apparent to everyone. "We just need to..."

"There!" Ryan yelled, spotting several dark shapes emerging out of the shadows. The slight whir of mechanics betraying their presence. "Dogbot!"

Steeling themselves for what was coming, Duo peered out towards the shapes. The glint of silver at the head, a curved shape noticeable.

"That's not a Dogbot!" the black ranger gasped, shaking his head in shock as he stepped back. "That's... Wait, what is that?"

"They, might be a better term," Nahir remarked, as two more shapes appeared behind the lead machine. As they came into view, all three of them quickly realised that Duo had been right. That they weren't Dogbots. Rather than the head of a Houndour, they had the head of a Houndoom. The silver horns being what the black ranger had seen earlier. The cannon had been moved from one of the arms to the stomach, while both arms now ended in hooks. Behind the three new robotic soldiers, the rangers could see several regular Dogbots waiting in the wings.

"So, what are these then?" Ryan asked, before his voice took on a cocky overtone. "Doombots? Come on, we can take them!"

"Ever think we might be outnumbered?" Nahir wondered, shaking her head at the way the green ranger was spoiling for a fight.

"Nah, you can't put too much stock into numbers," Ryan replied, striding forward. The three Doombots instantly reacting to close in on him. Their powerful claws whipping up into action, they slashed away towards the green ranger, Ryan bringing his arms up to block them as best he could. Gasping out in pain as they slashed away through the sleeves of his jacket, drawing blood. Without hesitating, Duo and Nahir both made the decision to get in on the action. Throwing themselves towards the robots.

* * *

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the boat, the other three rangers had encountered some Dogbots trying to break into Bill's workshop. The fight had been brief, Luke, Xavier and Katie easily using a combination of experience, their superior fighting ability and their Eevee powers to take them down.

"You ever wonder what it'd be like if the Dogbots were stronger?" Luke wondered, dusting his hands off onto his pants. "Because..."

"Wait, what was that?" Katie asked, more whirring sounds ringing out down the corridor. Followed by mechanical barks and growls. "That can't be good."

Looking around at the direction of the sound, the questions quickly became answered as three Doombots strode into view. All of them snarling at the rangers, ready to attack them.

"Guess your question just got answered," Xavier commented, glancing over at Luke. "So..."

"I had to open my mouth," the purple ranger groaned.

* * *

"Pity we can't see what's going on," Lance said, he, Bill and Paige still stuck on the bridge. None of them having moved from the room, as per Katie's orders. "They had to take the cameras out."

"Well, I could go and take a look," Paige remarked. "But, I can't leave the two of you alone."

"What are you going to do if some of them break in?" Lance asked. "You couldn't hit the Dogbot earlier."

"Okay, so I wasn't concentrating enough," she replied. "It's a thing. Need to focus heavily in order to get it right. Otherwise, I pass straight through."

"Like a ghost," Lance commented, a small smile on his face. "If you want to put it that way."

"Don't you start," Paige warned, seconds before something heavy hit the door behind them. "Uh oh."

"Looks like we're about to have a house invasion," Bill said, looking around for somewhere to hide. "Oh jeez, we're going to die."

"Correction," Paige remarked, darkly. "You're going to die."

Without hesitating, Lance brought out a Poké Ball. Holding it up, ready to throw.

"Guess we're about to find out," he said. "One way or another."

* * *

"Yargh!"

Screaming out in pain as he hit the wall, Ryan looked around to see how the other two rangers were getting on. The Doombot he had faced being stronger than he could have guessed.

"These things are tough!" Duo shouted, struggling in a grapple with one of the black robots. "Think we might have to bust out some of the heavy artillery."

"When you say the heavy artillery," Nahir said, trying to break out of the grip the robot had around her. "You mean morph, right?"

"Oh yeah," he replied, twisting out of the grapple and kicking the Doombot in the chest. Bringing his morpher up. "I'm up for that."

"Let's do it!" Nahir yelled, reaching for her morpher. Managing to crash a finger against the activation button. "Genesis Overlo..."

Cutting her off, the Doombot viciously threw her away. Her focus on morphing immediately lost, she managed to still transform into her costume as she hit the ground. Duo and Ryan making to do the same.

"Genesis Overload!"

Morphing into their ranger suits, the three rangers immediately went back to the fight. Duo throwing a kick into the body of the closest one, Nahir going back to the one that had previously done a decent job of roughing her up, while Ryan made for the final one.

"Round two!" Duo shouted, throwing a pair of punches into the face of the Doombot he was battling. "Seconds out."

* * *

"Genesis Overload!"

Activating their morphers, Katie, Xavier and Luke quickly transformed into their suits. Going back into the fray against the Doombots, the upgraded foot soldiers proving to be more of a challenge than first they realised.

"Tidal Trident!" Xavier shouted, bringing out the weapon to take a swipe at the one closest to him. The robot blocking it with an arm, snarling at him furiously at the way the prongs had dug out into the metallic skin.

"Not funny," the blue ranger said, kicking it in the chest. Forcing it back, the room was enough for him to bring up his weapon. The Trident glowing with a bright blue light. "Waterfall!"

Hitting out with a powerful vertical strike, the Doombot was sent crashing up through the air, smashing through the ceiling. Vanishing away over the horizon.

"Nice," Luke commented, holding out his hand. "I got to try me something similar here. Psycho Spear!"

At the command, he brought the weapon out. Thrusting it towards the body of the Doombot, the robot growling in anger as parts of the skin were punctured.

"Psycho Cut!"

His weapon shining with a bright purple energy, he swept it out through the air, slashing it against the body of the robot. The overload of energy completely destroying it.

"Me one, you zero!" the purple ranger crowed.

Ducking under the attack from the final Dogbot, Katie brought both her Heat Blasters up out of the holsters. Quickly making to fire them repeatedly into the body of the last robot, the machine let out a crackled roar of outrage at the burning hot blasts smouldering against the surface of its skin. Kicking it back with her boot, Katie quickly combined the two weapons into the Flareon Battle Rifle.

"Ready to make my day?" she asked, a smirk on the face under her helmet.

* * *

"Dragonite, Hyper Beam!"

Letting out a roar of pride, the Dragon Pokémon unleashed the blast of orange energy towards the oncoming robot. Despite not knowing what the rest of the rangers had seen in their fight with the Doombots, they could easily tell that it was different to anything that they'd ever seen before. Big and black like the rest of the Dogbots, it instead had some orange armour on its shoulders and the Houndoom head was also orange. The horns still being silver, and it carried a black spiked mace at its waist.

"You think that could defeat me?" it taunted. Surprising everyone with its ability to speak. "It is not possible to defeat General Houtron in that way. You will be deleted."  
"What?" Bill asked, trying to hide himself in a small cupboard. "Erm... Oh crap, this is bad."

"Are you really trying to jam yourself in there?" Paige wondered, glancing back at him. "Because, I'm not scared."

Striding towards the Dragonite, Houtron brought out his mace. Ready to crash the heavy metal item down into the scaled form...

... Lance reacted fast and brought the Pokémon back to its Poké Ball, the beam of red energy recalling it back into the protective case of the capsule.

"Nice going," Paige remarked, striding forward. "Now, you're going to die. Unless..."

Taking a deep breath, she swung out a fist at Houtron, the attack passing straight through him. Much to his amusement.

"Attack is not effective. Procede with little caution."

Striding straight through the ghost, much to Paige's chagrin, he began to head for Lance. Hoisting up the giant black mace as he did so.

"Errr... Paige," the Dragon Master called. "A little help would be..."

"Sssh!" she said, turning around to look at the two figures in front of her. "Got to concentrate."

Closing her eyes, drawing another deep breath, she began to move towards Lance and Houtron. One step at a time, keeping her composure as best she could, Paige brought her hand back. The mace rising up to bring down and cave Lance's head in...

Contact, she thought, bringing her hand forward. Crashing against the back of Houtron's head, the robot snapping and crackling in anger as he rounded on her.

"Threat level raised. Threat level must be deleted."

"Crap," the ghost said, worry in her voice. "Got to be back to normal."

Heavily gulping at the sight, she took a step back, watching and waiting for the mace to come down. Much to her relief, as it did, it passed straight through her. The only damage caused, being that to the floor, as it ploughed into the wood.

"That..." Paige said, a smirk on her face as she glanced around to the window across the room from them. "... Wasn't very nice."

Again letting her focus build up, she flung herself forward. Corporeal once again, she managed to force the robot back, sending him smashing straight back through the window. The two of them immediately falling down towards the deck several feet below.

* * *

"Damage moderate. Threat level active!"

Hearing the sound of Houtron's voice, the ghost looked up at the robot stood above her. Thanks to her spectral form, she'd landed unharmed. However, short of forcing him into the ocean, she didn't really have a plan for dealing with him further.

"Wow, that's one ugly robot!"

Her gaze flickering around, Paige saw the six rangers stood across from the two of them. All with their weapons out, ready to battle.

"Guess my time of being insanely heroic is over," she muttered, taking several steps back away from the annoyed robot. "Kick his ass guys."

"No problem," Duo remarked. "Because we haven't already destroyed enough robots already. A stack downstairs, and now this guy."

"Damage moderate," Houtron said, looking over at the rangers. "Threat level extreme. Opponents must be deleted, or this unit will be defeated."

"At least he knows his limits," Ryan commented. "We going to get him, or..."

Not letting the green ranger finish, Houtron brought his mace up. Smashing it to the deck of the Silver Gyarados, a huge shock wave of energy erupted out across the ground towards them, the blast throwing them to the ground. Reacting fastest, Katie brought her two Heat Blasters out and started to fire while on her back. Houtron easily taking the rapid fire blasts of hot energy to his body.

"Damage sustained but not threatening," he said, starting to advance upon the grounded rangers. "Must delete threat."

"Okay, Cyber Man," Xavier muttered, using his Tidal Trident to hoist himself up. "I've had enough of this robotic crap. Anyone else with me?"

"Hell yeah," Luke said, as he, Duo, Ryan and Nahir got to their feet. All of them bringing their weapons up. "Let's do this."

"Time to put this Doombot down," Nahir commented.

"It's time for the Pentasis Blaster!" Ryah exclaimed, raising up his Fauna Hammer.

"Right now!" Duo finished, the five of them bringing their weapons together to form the weapon. The black ranger taking the weapon up and pointing it at Houtron. In the interim, Katie had formed the Flareon Battle Rifle. The two weapons levelled at the robot.

"Is there a robot God?" Katie wondered. "Because you better start praying to one."  
"There's a robot devil," Duo commented. "Or have I been watching too many cartoons."

"Somehow, I wouldn't be surprised," Xavier remarked. "We ready to do this?"

"Oh yeah," Ryan said, Duo aiming the weapon at Houtron. Closing his finger around the trigger.

"Pentasis Blaster!" the black ranger shouted. "Fire!"

"Flareon Fury!" Katie yelled, pulling the trigger. The twin bursts of energy erupting out of the weapons, heading towards Houtron. Instantly decimating him on contact, the robotic remains sprinkling to the floor of the ship.

"Am I the only one who hopes that it doesn't grow right now?" Nahir asked. "Because if it does, the Silver Gyarados is going to make like a real one and end up in the drink."

For several minutes, they waited. Watching and wondering if anything was going to happen. When nothing did, the six of them quickly demorphed. Looking over at each other with relief.

"Well, I guess that we're over that crisis," Luke commented. "So, what now?"

"Give Bill as much help as we can in getting the systems of the boat back to action," Katie replied. "So we can finally see what it was that we got from the satellite."

"That's music to my ears," Duo remarked. "Finally some sort of closure. If that's the right term."

* * *

"The signal has gone."

Looking over to where Mitchell was stood, his eyes on the screen of the computer, Noland had no choice but to concede that he was correct. For a while, he had suspected as much, the signal having been peaking and fading across the system for the last several minutes.

"I know," he replied, determined not to let this knowledge pass across to his subordinate. "You need to read these things clearer, Mitchell."

"So, what do we do now?"

"Well, it would appear that Houtron was a failure," the former Frontier Brain remarked, crossing his arms. "But, we know that the new Doombots were not necessarily so."

"They didn't do their job," Mitchell reminded him. "They were just as much a failure as Houtron..."

"I'm sure that they did their job admirably," Noland said, cutting him off. "If you would care to examine their vital readings, they would show that it took quite a bit of damage for the rangers to destroy them. They can be reused. The problem being the time that it takes to build them. Make them so durable. We can knock out a Dogbot in an hour, it takes a day to build a fully functional Doombot. So, we'll have to use them sparingly."

"Mix them in with Dogbots in battle," Mitchell said. "Gotha. You want me to send a memo around to the rest of our group?"

"Nah, let them be our little secret," Noland replied, a crafty expression materialising onto his face. "Don't send them out to everyone. Except Dennis. That'd probably make sense, since he'd likely flambé the pair of us if we added their presence to our force without letting him have a cut of the action."

"That doesn't bear thinking about," Mitchell shuddered. "I'm not a fan of being flambéd."

* * *

"So, now everything's working," Bill said, tapping away on the keyboard in front of him. "Engines are back on line, the filter is installed, we can finally see what this message is."

Moments passed, and the pictures finally appeared on the screen. Everyone automatically trying to work out what the stream of nonsensical words meant as they gazed down upon them. Luke finally speaking up in shock.

"Is anyone else getting what I'm getting here? Because that makes no sense."

"I'm getting something strange," Katie admitted. "That's..."

"When angels cry," Duo said. "What the heck does that mean?"

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**So... Yeah... Cryptic.**

**Anyway, next one is the first part of the first two parter of the season. There will be quite a few, actually, can't believe it took me this long to get the first one in.**

**Okay, so thanks for the reviews. All appreciated.**

**Anyway, the first part of that two parter is entitled Angel Eyes. The preview is below, should be up in the next few days.**

**No Cobras in this chapter, I was considering a sidestory where they attack Mitchell at the docks, but it didn't make the cut. **

**Okay, so thanks for reading.**

**And, don't forget to review! I think Lance will be replying to the ones from this chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen, Angel Eyes, Part One, preview. **

**Harley: Wait, what?  
Meredith: They were looking at a book on angels.**

**Harley: Why don't we give them a hand.**

**Duo: This one guy just beat down all six Cobras easily.**

**Katie: Pity he didn't destroy them.**

**Nahir: Are you what I think you are?**

**?: Yes.**

**Duo: I have a suggestion.**

**Nahir: Suddenly I feel so dirty being in the same room as you.**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	14. Angel Eyes: Part One

Chapter Fourteen. Angel Eyes: Part One.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As the rangers recovered some information from one of the gems, they tried to get the pictures from Bill's satellite. Only for the filter to go, prompting a mission of recovery from the docks. Only for Noland and Mitchell to butt in. Making a distraction, Mitchell managed to sneak a pair of ball capsules onto the Silver Gyarados. As the two of them released out Dogbots and the brand new Doombots onto the boat, the rangers had their hands full. Only for a brand new robot, Houtron to attack Bill and Lance on the bridge. Thankfully, Paige managed to hold it off until the rangers got there. Defeating the robot, they finally got the systems back online. Seeing the almost impossible message..._

* * *

"Is anyone else getting what I'm getting here?" Luke asked, in shock. "Because that makes no sense."

"I'm getting something strange," Katie admitted. "That's..."

"When angels cry," Duo said. "What the heck does that mean?"

"You can search me," Bill replied, glancing over to where Nahir had crossed some of the words out to reveal the message. "But... Are we sure that this is the correct message. That we have the right order of words."

"Who knows," Xavier said. "But, either way, I don't think we can solve this one here. Not with the resources we have."

"Which means we might need to look deeper," Nahir remarked. "I know how we might be able to do this. I know a place in Red Moon City. A book shop that specialises in selling tomes of the supernatural all that. If we wanted to take things literally, that would probably be a great place to start. And possibly finish."

"Are we sure that we want to take it literally?" Luke wondered. "I mean... angels... come on. Not even you've got to believe in them."

"Several months ago, you wouldn't have said that you believed in demons," Nahir shot back. "Is it any more unrealistic than that?"

"Well, last time I checked I hadn't nearly been killed by an angel," Luke retorted. "So, that's not the same thing."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"Can't believe I drew the short straw in coming with you," the purple ranger muttered, uncomfortable as he and Nahir walked towards the book shop in front of them. "I mean... Come on. Surely..."

"Ah, I thought it'd be a change for you to see something past the end of your own nose for a change," she retorted. "So..."

"Not my fault you're not tall enough for me to see then," he shot back. "Your move, Moonie."

"Don't call me Moonie," she warned, the two of them arriving at the door. "Ever again."

"One time thing," he smiled, pushing the door open for her. "After you."

The two of them moving into the shop, the purple ranger instantly began to cough. Something causing the unusual fit, Nahir waiting patiently until he got it out of his system, Luke finally regained his composure.

"Do you always come out in a rash every time you come near books?" the yellow ranger asked. "Or..."

"No, every time I come into contact with copious amounts of dust," he replied. "Man, someone fire the cleaner?"

"They're going for the authentic look," Nahir said, angrily glaring at him. "Can you try a little less harder to get me banned from here?"

"Do you want me to?" he replied, quickly. "Because..."

"Can I help you?"

Looking up, the two of them saw an old woman wearing black robes glancing over at them. A strangely passive expression on her face as Nahir tried to regain some composure.

"Hi," she said, a quick smile flashing across her face. "We're actually looking for a book..."

"Go figure," Luke muttered, under his breath. The yellow ranger quickly stamping down on his foot, causing him to wince in pain. "Jeez..."

"Well, we have many books on the supernatural," the woman replied. "Welcome to The Unknown Tome. What are you looking for in particular?"

"A book on angels," Nahir said, quickly. "Preferably one as accurate as possible. It's..."

"Thank you," the woman interrupted. "It's not required for me to know why you want this item. Rather for me to help you out with acquiring it. Back of the shop, second shelf from the top, section eight. The title you will be looking for is Wings and Halos: Myths and Facts."

"Can you really class a book about angels as having anything to do with fact?" Luke wondered, craning his head slightly to whisper into Nahir's ear. "Because..."

"Are you going to keep this up while we're in here?" she asked. "Because..."

"Nah, I might carry it on when we get outside as well," he replied. "So, there."

"You two have an interesting relationship," the proprietor commented, watching them head towards the back of the shop. "Interesting in the broadest sense of the word."

* * *

"Okay, there it is," Nahir said, pointing to the book in question. "Can you grab it?"

"Oh sure," Luke replied, rolling his eyes in amusement. "Now you're happy to speak nicely to me when you need me for something. I mean... Is there any way for you to say it in a nicer fashion?"

"Can you get it down, please?" the yellow ranger asked, narrowing her eyes angrily at her friend. "In case you haven't noticed, time is an issue."

"Time's always an issue," Luke replied. "It's just a case of managing it. Why do you think Dorlinda always looks so calm and unflappable?"

"Because he can flit around at will and go from starting something to finishing it in the best part of four seconds?" she said, still annoyed. "Now can we get this book and get out of here before someone sees us and assumes that we know each other?"

"Why, you worried about being seen with me?" he smirked. "That's really hurtful, Nahir. You really know how to cut down deep. Take the knife out of my heart..."

"Are you going to carry on, or are you going to grab it?" she asked. "Because..."

"Here," he replied, reaching up to pick it up. "You insult me, and then I give you this as a reward. Makes me wonder how your mind works."

"Don't even continue that line of thought," she said, looking at the book with interest. "We better get this back to the boat."

* * *

Unnoticed by the two of them, the veil wearing figure from across the shop kept her eyes trained on them. Watching the two rangers head towards the counter, she quickly mused across what she had heard, before turning away and vanishing in a pop of purple energy. Nobody having noticed her there in the first place.

* * *

"Guess what, I've got news," Meredith trilled, wandering back into the hideout. "News on what our arch-nemeses are doing. Have a guess."

"I'll pass," Harley replied. "I'm really not in the mood for guessing around."  
"Angels," she said. "How about that."

"Wait, what?" he asked, not sure if he'd heard her correctly. "What did you say?"

"They were looking a a book on angels," Meredith repeated. "So, what do you make of that?"

"Angels?" the Coppinger asked, stroking his chin. "And, this has what to do with us? If those annoying little pests want to spend their time chasing a myth then let them."

"What if they know something?" Meredith insisted. "The Genesis artefacts work in strange ways. What if they need an angel to find one. We say it might be a myth, but if we ignore it..."

"Then, why don't we give them a hand," Harley snickered. "Let's summon our own angel. See what it can do for us."

"You cannot be serious," she replied, shocked at what he had come out with. "That's not possible. How can we do that? We can't, because..."

"Don't tell me what I can or cannot do," Harley warned, dropping a Poké Ball onto the desk in front of him. An Abra appearing out of the capsule, the psychic type instantly slumping down to sleep, snores ringing out from it. "We'll use a mutant to do the trick. And..."

Bringing his arm up, Harley reached out to stick the Pokémon back in the head with the stinger. Watching it react, the eyes snapping open in pain, the two Coppingers watched the Pokémon beging to glow with a white light and transform. Standing up, the new mutant looked over at the two of them with disdain. Still looking like an Abra, its skin was now pure white with red stripes. Both the arms were that of an Alakazam, each holding a spoon, while he had an area on his chest that resembled a Bronzor. The eyes on the Bronzor flickering open every few seconds, before closing again. Standing up, he let out a yawn.

"I am Warpmax," he said, folding his arms. "What do you require?"

"Well, my pretty," Harley replied, patting himself down. "This is actually... ah, a little embarrassing. How best to put this..."

"This," Meredith said, reaching into her coat and pulling out a copy of the same book that Nahir and Luke had acquired in The Unknown Tome. "This is what we want."

"You want another copy of the book?"

"We want an angel," Harley replied. "Right here. Right now. Can you get one here, Warpmax? Or, are you going to..."

"You want an angel?" Warpmax retorted. "That's something that's going to be tricky. I can summon one, but where and when it will appear is a matter of debate."

Reaching over, he placed his hand on the book. A stream of white energy emerging out of his hand, passing out across the surface of the item. Seconds later, it exploded in a shower of energy, the three mutants shielding their eyes from the brightness.

* * *

"Energy surge!" Bill yelled, pulling his eyes away from the monitor in front of him. "A big one. Very similar to the Genesis energy that is given off by your morphers."

"Well, that can't be good," Lance remarked, as Duo and Xavier came running in to see what the shout had been about.

"What's going on?" Xavier asked. "We heard someone scream out something about an energy surge. So, we came running along and..."

"There's just been a massive surge of energy in the middle of the region," Bill replied, looking back at his screen. "Not a building in sight, it's way out in the middle of nowhere. Think there might be a Tauros habitat there, but..."

"Want us to check it out?" Duo asked. "Because we're not doing anything right now. Ryan had to go back to Sinnoh for a few days..."

"Yeah, I was there," Lance remarked. "He said to get in touch if we needed him. Katie's currently down below training... I think you guys should check it..."

"It's gone," Bill interrupted. "The surge just vanished."

"Well, that was a near thing," Xavier started to say. "I mean, we were almost..."

"It's reappeared!" Bill exclaimed. "This is impossible. It just jumped a hundred miles in the space of half a second."

"So, whatever it is," Duo commented. "It can teleport."

"I don't think so," Lance said, stroking his chin. "I've conversed with trainers in the past. Strong psychic type trainers. When they've teleported with the help of their Pokémon, it's taken longer than half a second. Probably six times that. You guys have teleported in the past, I'm pretty sure that it's taken you longer than half a second."

"So, what is it then?" Bill asked. "Mr. Sudden Expert On Teleportation."

"Okay, so I don't know."

"Well, it seems to have... Woah, guess not," Bill said, still looking at the monitor. "Fluctuating again. Can't get a close on this thing. First it was in the middle of nowhere. Then it's further in the middle of nowhere. Now... Desert. Slowpoke Lake. So far it's not hitting any major towns or cities but if it continues to go at this rate, it'll hit one..."

"What do all these areas have in common?" Lance asked. "Why is it hitting them and then moving on? Not sticking in more than one place for more than a few seconds?"

"There is one thing," Xavier said, slowly. "There's a lack of people in those areas. I don't know if that puts the mind at rest or not."

"One way to know," Bill remarked, as he glanced back away from the screen. "It's just hit Lassana City."

Going back to the screen, everyone waited for a few moments. Until the PokéManiac spoke again.

"It's stopped," he replied. "The energy surge is lowering, stabilising. Within a few moments, we probably won't even be able to track it."

"Guess we better get on the move then," Duo said, as he and Xavier made a break for the door. "I mean... If it's really going to be that bad."

"Send us the last known coordinates, mid-flight!" Xavier shouted, the two of them going for their Hover Chasers.

"Will do."

* * *

Groaning as he stood up, the figure rubbed the back of his head. Where it had cracked the ground upon impact of falling over.

"Not a great start," he commented, looking down at himself. "Better than... Let's see..."

Moving over to a window, he took a quick look at himself. At the scruffy black hair and beard, the dark skin and brown eyes. At the stained white shirt and jeans. At the...

"Not the most inconspicuous I can be," he continued, glancing at the scaly appendages on his back. Golden wings, similar to what most humans would have said belonged to a Pokémon called Dragonite. "Need to..."

Glancing down to the ground, he spotted the ideal item to help. A long black trench coat, the attire looking an almost perfect fit for his body. If he'd had to guess, he'd have said that it was not quite two decades old. Maybe a few years off.

"Must have thrown it off in the struggle," he remarked, picking it up. Shaking the dust off it, he managed to gingerly fold in his wings, before slipping the coat over his shoulders. Pushing his arms through the sleeves. "Perfect."

"Good evening."

Looking around, he felt a strange sensation, almost a shiver race up the spine of his body. Six figures, each wearing one colour on their helmet and uniforms striding towards him.

"Good evening," he replied. "Lovely weather, right?"

Almost snarling at his answer, the figure wearing red strode forward towards him. The anger clearly visible in his demeanour.

"What did you do?" he demanded, grabbing the winged man by the lapels of the coat. "We felt a surge of power here? Where is the Genesis artefact."

"'Fraid I don't know what you're talking about," the man replied, not really intimidated by the makeshift assault. "But, I suggest you put me down. Or I won't be responsible for the consequences."

As Cobra Red began to laugh in his face, the attacked man moved first. Easily throwing the hands off him, he grabbed the Cobra Ranger by the shoulders and easily tossed him up into the air. The figure hitting the opposite wall of the alley, ten feet up. Slowly sliding down towards the ground, the other Cobra Rangers looking shocked at what they had just seen.

"Okay, wow," Cobra Black remarked. "Anyone else just..."

"Instead of talking about it," Cobra Red groaned, trying to reassert some of his authority from the ground. "Are you going to attack, or..."

Hearing the order, the rest of the Cobras began to fan out into an attack formation. Surrounding the figure with menacing gait.

"Thank you," their leader groaned, picking himself up. Watching Cobra Black throw a punch at the figure, the mysterious winged man bending himself back to evade the attack with ease. Not missing a beat, he brought his foot up and kicked the Cobra against the wall. Dust being thrown up by the impact of him striking the bricks. Not stopping there, he grabbed Cobra's Blue and Green, throwing them aside. Cobra Green hitting a dumpster, while Cobra Blue landed next to Cobra Black. Next, Cobra's Yellow and Purple came out into view. Both of them attacking the man, their punches easily being blocked. Still holding their fists, the winged man sent them crashing together, before hurling them apart.

"Unimpressive," he remarked. "Now, are you done here, or..."

Spinning around, he caught the intended attack from Cobra Red in his hand. Not even pausing to draw breath, he hurled the foe back against the side of the alley, watching him land on his back.

"Now, we're done," he said, turning to start walking away. Not noticing Duo and Xavier watching the whole thing from behind a dumpster, both wearing equally shocked looks at what had just happened.

"What was that?" Xavier wondered, still looking at the grounded Cobras. None of them easily able to move after the beating that they had taken from the winged man. "Who was that?"

"I don't know," Duo muttered. "But, I'm all for getting out of here before they recover. Because they're likely to be annoyed. I don't think that we want to be here when that happens."

"I'll agree with you there," Xavier said. "Think we best go back and inform our fearless leader what just went down."

* * *

"You're not going to believe what we just saw," Duo said, as he and Xavier came running into the room. Both sweating from their run. "But, this was..."

"What?" Luke asked, glancing over to them. "What did you see."

"The Cobras," Xavier replied. "But, that wasn't the strangest thing. You haven't heard the most impossible part yet."

"Okay, so they went to hassle this guy," Duo continued. "And when I say hassle, I think they were really intending to mess him up..."

"You step in?" Katie asked, not looking up. "Or..."

"Didn't need to," the black ranger replied. "This is why it's incredible. The one guy just beat down all six Cobras easily. No help at all, he just smashed them into the ground and left them for dead."

"Oh," Katie said, her interest drawn up to the two of them finally. "Pity that he didn't destroy them."

"That would just be too helpful," Luke commented. "Can't believe I missed that. All the while that me and Nahir are tracking down books on angels."

"Oh yeah, how's that going?" Xavier asked. "Because..."

"We brought back a stack of rare books from out of the way shops all over the region," Luke said. "Lance, Bill and Nahir are currently doing research."  
"So, you think this new player in town might be a problem?" Katie asked. "Judging on what you saw, is he a threat to what we need to do?"

"He has the capacity to be a threat," Duo replied. "But, he only attacked the Cobras when they went for him. They shot first, and got slaughtered."

"Interesting metaphor," Lance remarked, walking into the room. "Who shot who?"  
"Nobody got shot," Katie said. "Apparently some guy beat up the Cobras."

"Uh huh," the Dragon Master replied, glancing over to Xavier and Duo. "Does this have anything to do with that power surge from earlier?"

"Power surge?" Luke asked. "What aren't you telling us here?"

"Anyway, Bill's saying that he thinks you should all get downstairs," Lance interrupted. "Full debriefing, we need to decide how to proceed next."

* * *

"This is officially the strangest thing I've ever seen," Bill commented, shaking his head. Scratching at his scalp, groaning with frustration. "Anyone else need to take some aspirin to help figure this one out?"

"So, we've got the thing about angel's crying," Nahir said. "We've got a strange power surge and a strange guy in an alley who manages to beat six super powered mutant rangers up without blinking. Did he blink?"

"No idea," Duo replied. "But, are these things linked?"

"Could be..." Lance offered. "Who knows. But..."

"There is one answer," Nahir said, slowly. "One solution. However crazy."

"Well, I'm open to all suggestions," Katie replied. "However insane."

"Super strong," the yellow ranger continued. "Surged around the place, bursting across deserted areas until arriving in a heavily populated one. Fast. Not going to fight unless threatened."

"Yeah, that's a summary of what it could do," Xavier replied. "What do you know? What have you heard?"

Without hesitating, Nahir brought the book that she and Luke had brought from The Unknown Tome.

"Just what I read," she replied, casually. "It's all in here."

"Oh terrific," Bill commented. "Strange, but terrific."

"So, we've got an angel wandering around on the streets of Lassana City," Duo remarked. "Anyone else think that this is insane?"  
"You have any other explanation?" Nahir asked. "Just because something is implausible doesn't make it any less real. Look at us. We harness the power of Pokémon to save the world. Is some sort of higher power really that hard to believe in?"

"That was eloquently put," Luke remarked. "But... just because you put it like that doesn't make it less feasible."

"I will officially bet you anything you like that this is an angel," she said, glaring at him. "Whatever you want, name your price."

"Well..." the purple ranger replied, a smirk on his face. "I can think of several things. But, let's see..."

"I don't recommend slap betting," Katie offered. "Last time I made one of those, I ended up getting a whack from Danni."

"The way I remember that," Xavier remarked. "You were wearing your ranger helmet, so it can't have hurt that much."

"Detracts from my point," Katie said, folding her arms. "But, yeah, you're right."

"Okay," Nahir replied, looking Luke up and down. "If he turns out to be an angel, then I get to slap you five times and you have to clean my Hover Chaser for six months."

"Tempting," Luke remarked. "Yet, if he's not an angel, then..."

Pausing for a moment, he made a show of stroking his chin, musing heavily upon his decision. Much to the irritance of everyone present.

"For the love of everyone here, before we all die a painful death," Katie said, rolling her eyes. "Just come up with something outrageous. Like getting her on a date..."

As Nahir shot a venomous look of fury towards the red ranger, Luke's expression quickly mirrored it for just a second. Before being replaced with a smirk.

"I was about to come with something," he remarked. "But, that. That is so much better. You're a genius. A twisted sadistic devious genius. How about it, Nahir? You want to make that bet?"

Without even hesitating, the yellow ranger held out her hand. A passive look on her face as she did so, the only sign of movement being the twitching of the muscles in the corner of her mouth.

"Shake on it," she replied. "And don't spit on your hand before."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Luke said, grinning sweetly at her before reaching out to shake. "Deal's on."

"So, now that that's gone," Duo remarked. "Anyone else want to make any stupid bets about what might or might not happen?"

"Yeah, I'll bet you twenty dollars that we'll need Ryan at some point before the end of the day," Lance said, looking over at the black ranger. "Might need to give him a call and tell him to make his way back to us."

"In the meantime," Nahir remarked, holding the book up. "It says that when in this world, angels spend most of their time in churches. Which would mean that we should start looking there."

"If it is an angel," Luke pointed out. "Don't forget our little bet..."

"Oh, don't worry about it," Nahir replied, smirking at him. "I haven't."

As she strode out towards the door, Katie leaned in close to the purple ranger. Whispering something in his ear.

"You're welcome, by the way."

* * *

Moving towards the large structure in front of her, Nahir couldn't help but feel slightly in awe at the way the spires rose up above the horizon. Almost touching the heavens with its awesome reach.

Which, was probably what the architect had in mind when designing it, she thought to herself, a part of her being still wondering if she was going to find answers here.

"Only one way to find out for sure," she muttered, reaching for the door. Pushing it open, she instantly saw a solitary figure crouched over at the base of a crucifix. Bowing his head in respect to what it symbolised. Taking her time on approach, she eventually made her way into a pew, leaning forward to watch the man pray. Bringing her mind back to the description that Duo and Xavier had given to her, the yellow ranger quickly began to examine him. Coming to the conclusion that it was almost certainly the same guy. Running her eyes down his form, the gaze fell upon the base of the coat he was wearing. Her focus increasing on the sight of the two golden triangles emerging out of the base. Clashing with the black wool, the sight was enough to make her smile grow even wider by the second.

In the next split second, she blinked, her eyes closing for just that fraction of a moment. And as they opened up again, the man was gone. A hand on her shoulder.

"Something interesting you?" the voice asked, soft but dangerous in her ear. Moving back into the wooden seat, she saw him now sat next to her.

"How did you...?" she started to ask, despite thinking that she already knew the answer. "Never mind."

"You don't seem worried," he commented. "What is your interest in me?"

"No interest," she lied, casually shrugging his hand off her shoulder. "Just came in here. Looking for some spiritual guidance."

"Oh, I see," he remarked. "And how is that going for you? Do you feel enlightened yet?"

"I'm starting to sense the presence of something great," she replied, looking him up and down. "In the last few days, I've started to question the existence of a higher power. Could something like that exist?"

"Well, you never ever know," the man replied, leaning in close to her. "Stranger things have happened. I've seen things you know. Wondrous things that would amaze you to your core. Things that would make you cry with delight."

"Are you what I think you are?" Nahir asked, looking at the teenage guy with a mixture of awe and surprise. Although she had been half expecting it, the surprise was still overwhelming. "Are you..."

"Yes," he replied. "I am Alastor. Messenger. Guardian. Warrior. Angel of the Lord."

"I see," the yellow ranger replied, slowly. "I'm Nahir."

"Pleasure to meet you, Nahir," Alastor said. "How is everything with you?"

"It's better now," she answered, smiling at him. "Talking to you has been very refreshing. Enlightening almost."

"Enlightenment is what I do best," he replied, returning the smile. "Now, I think that..."

"How did you get here?" Nahir quickly asked, interrupting him. "I'm sorry, but I can't help but wonder."

"Honestly, I don't know," Alastor said. "The first thing I remember is hitting the ground. Zooming up and down across this place to try and find a vessel. My true form... I can't survive in the world in that form for too long, prompting an attempt to find a suitable body."

"You're wearing that guy like a suit?" Nahir asked, momentarily repulsed by the thought. "That's just wrong."

"He's in no pain," Alastor replied. "It's just like being in a deep sleep for him. He can't be harmed, can't be touched. When I vacate the body..."

"That's not something that I'm sure if I like," she said. "It's a bit..."

"Your compassion is touching," he remarked, smiling at her. "But, what can I do? I'm not sure how I ended up here and I can't leave until I find out why. And believe me, it's not the ideal thing for me, either. What I'm doing is terrible. But, what choice do I have?"

Getting to his feet, his smile continued to grow as he looked over to her.

"Maybe we'll meet again," he said. "Who knows. But, in the event that we do, I look forward to it. Farewell, Nahir."

With those words lingering in the air, a rush of wind caused the yellow ranger to blink again. Alastor having vanished as the slight action completed.

"Okay then..."

* * *

"I'm almost convinced that he's an angel," Nahir said, looking around at the room. Looks of surprise on everyone's faces. Except Luke who went slightly purple at what she had just said, his eyes widening in shock.

"So, how can we get him to cry?" Lance asked. "Is such a thing even possible?"

"Well, that's not in the books," Nahir said. "But, as most I can tell, he's in a human body. With tear ducts and so on. And Alastor's mind is highly sensitive, he's so eloquent and charming. I just... Like being around him. And I think he likes me."

"You don't want to hurt him," Katie remarked. "But the fact remains, you might have to. All that remains is to do it in as gentle way as possible."

"I have a suggestion," Duo offered. "It's a bit left field, but..."

"Excuse me, I've got to sit down," Xavier remarked, pulling a chair up before looking over at the black ranger. "I've got a feeling that this is going to be classic."

"Well," Duo said, feeling all eyes on him. "He likes you, right? So, you continue with him. Maybe even go on a date. Have some fun. As best you can with someone whose not human. Just nourish that affection he has for you."

"Here it comes," Xavier commented. "And, I bet that..."

"Then, when he looks happy, when he looks content," Duo said. "Yank the rug out from underneath him. Tell him that it was a filthy lie, you wouldn't love him ever and watch him weep."

Taking a quick bow, he looked up to the quiet room. Everyone looking at him with complete shock on their faces.

"What?"

"Suddenly I feel so dirty being in the same room as you," Nahir said, looking at him with disgust. "Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Hey, I'm only making a suggestion," the black ranger replied. "Nothing to do with me. You'll be the one implementing it."  
"I don't like it," Katie said. "Something about it makes me uncomfortable."

"Makes YOU uncomfortable?" Nahir asked. "Anyone have any better ideas? Please, somebody say something."  
"Nope," Xavier replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Unfortunately, I've got nothing."

"I'm giving no help whatsoever, because I'm still not convinced that he's an angel," Luke pointed out. "So..."

"I'm still not comfortable with it," Nahir said. "I mean, what if he takes it badly. I don't want a pissed off angel on my case."

"What, because he's an angel?" Duo asked. "And could probably..."

"The part of him that's a guy worries me," Nahir replied, interrupting. "We all know how irrational guys can get in that situation."

"Well, that's an unfair generalisation," Luke commented. "And a really biased one as well. Because you can't be irrational at all."

"Not really the point," Katie said, folding her arms. "Let's just say that everyone has the capacity to be irrational. Nahir, are you sure that you want to do this?"

"I don't want to," the yellow ranger replied, softly. Her eyes dull and dark as she did so. "But, I know that it has to be done. There's probably no other way."

"There's always another way," Xavier remarked. "We just don't have the time. As much as it pains me to say it, because I think it's absolutely despicable, but I think Duo is right."

"Yay! I'm right!" the black ranger yelled, punching the air. "Have that!"

* * *

"I must confess," Alastor said, looking across to her. Offering her a smile, his teeth shiny white against the darkened skin. "I was quite surprised when you found me again."  
"You're not the only one full of surprises," Nahir replied. She'd found him again almost several hours earlier and stuck with him. At first, he'd made a show of protesting, before coming around to the idea of having her with him. As she'd linked hands with him half an hour later, she'd seen the way his eyes lit up. An hour later, they'd almost kissed. Her breaking away at the last moment, viewing the look of frustration as she had done so.

"This night," he remarked, looking up to the blackened sky above them. Seeing the way the stars glistened against it, lights against the darkness. "Seems so much different from below, rather than above."

"That is so true," Nahir said, before realising how dumb that sounded. "I mean, if you say so. I can't comment."

"Having never seen it before," he said. "Maybe one day..."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, the implications suddenly hitting her of what he was implying. "What are you...?"

"I'm sorry," he said, quickly. "That was rude. Reminding you of your mortality. Forgive me. My ineptness. I'm just... I hope that you can hear my sincerest regrets..."

"No problem," Nahir replied, softly. "Forget about it. It's no problem, we all make stupid choices. Guess it's a human trait."

"Which is interesting," Alastor commented. "So, how many stupid choices have you ever made?"

I'm in the middle of one right now, she thought, sadly.

"Some people make more than others," the yellow ranger replied, quickly. "I mean..."

"And as of now, I've only made the one," Alastor retorted. "Who needs to be counting?"

"Fair enough," she replied, letting her hand fall down to meet with his. "After all, who needs to be counting at a time like this."

"Then you won't get a disagreement from me," he said, grinning at her. "Especially when we've had such a good time here."

"Yeah, it has been good," Nahir replied. "It's been great spending time with you."

Craning his neck slightly, leaning in close to her, Alastor shot her a grin. His teeth easily visible against the darkness.

"It doesn't have to end right here," he continued. "Because, I really like you. A lot. You're easily the nicest human I've met since ending up here."

"And you're the nicest angel I've met," she replied. "Easily."

"Well, I guess we've both had firsts," he said, his head lowering still. The two of them coming together, moving into a kiss. Slowly breaking away, taking a step back, Nahir knew that it was now or never.

I hate you so much right now, Duo, she thought, seeing the affection in his eyes. Unable to hide what he was feeling, despite the inscrutability that he'd previously shown.

"Anyway..." he started to say, before she interrupted him.

"Shouldn't have done that,"she said, glaring at him. "What's wrong with you? Why would I want to do that with you? You're not even human, it'd be wrong in every sense of the word."

Seeing him shocked, almost unable to speak, the sight was almost enough to make her feel ten times worse. The hurt across his face even increasing that, as he took a step back.

"What?" he asked, the voice hoarse. "What is wrong with... Why would you...?"

"I'm sorry," she repeated, trying to keep her voice as emotionless as possible. "But, it's not going to happen. You make me sick."

For a moment, Alastor glared at her. More angry than sad at the way she had rejected him, she could almost see the blind fury ripping across his eyes.

"Then, I won't feel as bad about this," he replied, his voice colder than Snowpoint City. "Because you made a big mistake here."

Too late, she saw his hand come up. Faster than she could move, even with her super speed. Grabbing her by the head, a golden light began to course out of him and across her body.

"We will be together," he snarled, the light growing ever brighter by the second.

* * *

To Be Continued...

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Yeah...**

**Don't ask about Duo. I think Nahir's reaction summed it all up. Dude's got problems. Even though desperate times and all...**

**Anyway, guess he took it badly... lol. What will happen next?**

**Thanks for the reviews! All appreciated completely and wildly. Possibly vigorously as well.**

**Okay, so the next one will be the second part. Angel Eyes: Part Two. Coming soon, preview below.**

**What's going to happen next? There's only one way to find out, and that's to keep reading. Not much action I know, but that will be made up in the next chapter. Not only did nobody morph in it, but Ryan didn't appear either.**

**Okay, so thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Harley will be replying to reviews today.**

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen, Angel Eyes: Part Two, preview.**

**Katie: Anyone heard from Nahir?**

**Duo: Oh crap, this can't be good.**

**Alastor: She's mine now! We'll never be apart.**

**Bill: He stole the artefact we have.**

**Luke: He's trying to assemble the Genesis Book himself.**

**Katie: We need to stop him right now.**

**Xavier: Do you think that's even possible?**

**Warpmax: I love chaos.**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	15. Angel Eyes: Part Two

Chapter Fifteen. Angel Eyes: Part Two.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As the rangers deciphered the cryptic message to find something about the crying of angels, Luke and Nahir went to a book shop in Red Moon City to get a book about the subject. Only to be observed by Meredith. As she took one back to Harley, the Coppinger created Warpmax. A monster who was able to summon an angel out into the world. As Bill tracked an energy surge, it was eventually localised into a human, one who was able to easily defeat all six Cobra Rangers with ease while Duo and Xavier watched. Upon telling the story, Nahir worked it out that he was an angel, even making a bet with Luke to try and prove her point. Continuing out to try and prove that point, she tracked the angel, Alastor, down to a church. Later, as they tried to work out a way of making him cry, Duo came up with a typically underhand way. One that Nahir implemented, despite not being best pleased about it. As she tried to break his heart, Alastor flipped out and attacked her..._

* * *

"Congratulations, Warpmax," Harley said, looking over at the mutant in front of him. "You fantastic excellently evil monster."

"Hey, I'm only doing the competent thing," he replied. "What you said. Plus, I love chaos."

"Chaos is right," Meredith remarked, smiling over at Warpmax. "That angel really did a number on the Cobra Rangers. And if the other rangers are running around to try and get rid of him, they'll have their hands full for quite a while."

"In the mean time," Warpmax remarked, still wearing a huge grin on his face. "What can we do? What could we possibly do with all of this time to do whatever we want?"

"I say we search out any other Genesis artefacts while we've got the breathing space," Meredith commented. "Because this peace isn't going to last for long. Probably. The Cobras will recover their health and their pride before long and make a demented attempt at saving face. And I wouldn't put it past the rangers to eventually figure out a way to get rid of that angel."

"Pity we can't tempt him over to our way of thinking," Harley mused. "Just thinking of what I could accomplish with the help from the likes of him. Especially in comparison to what I already have."

"Hey!" Meredith complained. "We wouldn't even have know that they were interested in angels if it wasn't for me. I'd like to see you putting on that veil and coat and hanging around waiting for them in dusty old book shops."

"Oh, you think I won't wear that coat?" he demanded. "I look fabulous in that coat. It fits me better than it does you."

"Okay," Warpmax commented, taking several steps back. "I'm just not getting involved in this. You two clearly have issues, so I'm going to go take a nap and when I wake, I'll cause some chaos."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"I'm sorry," she repeated, trying to keep her voice as emotionless as possible. "But, it's not going to happen. You make me sick."

For a moment, Alastor glared at her. More angry than sad at the way she had rejected him, she could almost see the blind fury ripping across his eyes.

"Then, I won't feel as bad about this," he replied, his voice colder than Snowpoint City. "Because you made a big mistake here."

Too late, she saw his hand come up. Faster than she could move, even with her super speed. Grabbing her by the head, a golden light began to course out of him and across her body.

"We will be together," he snarled, the light growing ever brighter by the second.

* * *

"Hey, what's that?"

Looking over to what his friend had shouted out about, Tim glanced over to the entrance of the alley. Seeing the remains of a bright light rushing out from it, the thing causing it completely fading from view.

"You don't think...?" Mal started to ask, a look of excitement on his face as he brought up the trusty video camera. "They're here! They're back! We've got proof of what's going to go down."

Both of them leaving their meals, the two Hikers started to run over towards the alley. Hearing the shout of the waitress behind them, yelling that they hadn't paid for their meals.

"Sorry!" Tim shouted back, running backwards to try and make his point clearer. "We'll be back shortly to pay. Opportunity knocks!"

"Put it on our tab!" Mal called, turning around while continuing to run backwards. "We're about to make a scientific breakthrough. We're about to discover something that could change the way that we look at the world. We're about to..."

Before either of them could finish what they were trying to say, they crashed into a bench and went falling over the item, rolling out to the entrance of the alley.

"Knew that we would make it," Tim crowed, picking himself up. "And we looked damn good doing it as well."

Even as he spoke, the two of them heard someone laugh across the street, before letting out a shout.

"Ha! Look at those two fools!"

"Ignore him," Mal said, the two of them looking down the alley to try and see who or what had caused the illumination from earlier. The only thing that came into view being a dark skinned man, his hand on the head of a short girl who looked basely familiar to the two Hikers.

"Is that...?" Tim started to ask, before the man withdrew his hand. Gasping for breath, he dragged away his coat, tossing it to the ground. Slight traces of smoke emerging up from it. Without hesitating, the former SDI ranger reached down and wrapped it around her shoulders, a focused look of concentration upon her face as she adjusted it.

"What's with her?" Mal wondered. "She seems..."

"Film it," Tim snapped, as the man who had apparently been attacking the girl finally seemed to notice her again.

"Wha... What's going on?" he asked, the confusion apparent in his voice. "Where am I? Who are you?"

In that moment, Nahir shot him a smile.

"It no longer matters," she replied, folding her arms. A wisp of wind rippling out around her body, the sudden movement enough to make everyone present shield their eyes. Even the watching Hikers had to do so, the three present quickly realising that she had vanished as soon as they removed their hands.

"Tell me we got that?" Tim remarked, looking down at the camcorder. Mal quickly holding it up to look at, before groaning.

"Oh no!"

"What?" Tim asked, quickly looking over to the other end of the video camera. Seeing a huge crack across the lens. "Damn!"

* * *

"This act of defeat cannot be tolerated!" Cobra Red snarled, banging his fist against the table in their makeshift hideout. "Whatever that thing was, we need to find a way of taking our retribution against it."

"That could be a problem, Cobra Red," Cobra Blue replied. "It was strong. Probably stronger than the six of us combined."

"Those implications in themselves are worrying," Cobra Yellow pointed out. "But, I have an idea. That entire area was filled with Genesis energy. Meaning that it had to have been brought here somehow. We find out what did that, we're a step closer to solving this entire thing. And having revenge."

"Then, that is what we shall do," Cobra Black said. "Excellent idea, Cobra Yellow."

* * *

"Anyone heard from Nahir?" Katie asked, looking over at everyone present. Ryan having returned from Snowpoint City half an hour earlier and still looking surprised at what had gone down in his absence. Bill was in the corner of the room, re-reading the book on angels.

"I still can't get over the angel," the green ranger commented, shaking his head. "I mean... We don't have enough crap to deal with. Now, we've got that to deal with that freakazoid as well."

"It's not nice to call an omnisciently powerful being a freakazoid," Xavier remarked. "Because... they might take it the wrong way and beat you senseless. And, after the way that he dealt with the Cobras..."

"I can't believe that I missed my evil counterpart get his clock cleaned," Ryan bemoaned. "I mean... Jeez. That's something I'm never likely to see ever again."

"Ah, it wasn't that great," Duo said, folding his arms. "Besides, if you're going to go visit the family..."

"Hey, it was my Dad's birthday," Ryan protested. "And, was it really not that good?"

"Are you kidding?" Xavier asked, grinning. "It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen and probably will see ever."

"It did sound an incredible sight," Bill commented, not looking up from the book. "But, that doesn't make it any easier."

"That's true," Lance remarked. "The first time you fought the Cobras, you were beaten easily. You've used that to spur yourselves on, get stronger. But, even still, you're only barely a match for them. If it comes down to it..."

"We'll have to try and ensure that it doesn't turn violet with Alastor then," Katie replied. "Because..."

Even as she was speaking, there was a knock on the door leading to the bridge. Everyone present moving their attention over to it.

"Who the heck is that?" Luke asked. "We're fourteen miles offshore. Who's knocking on..."

For the second time in the short space of time, a ranger was interrupted by the rap against the metal. As Lance made to go towards the door, a thunderous clang echoed out, the door completely being ripped off its hinges.

"Oh crap," Duo commented, looking at the damage in front of them. At the annoyed looking Nahir stood on the other side. "This can't be good."

"Doomsayer," Luke quipped. "So..."

"Is everything okay?" Katie asked, looking over to Nahir who had strode into the room. Glancing around at various things within, all of them enough to pique her interest.

"Funny," she remarked, picking up a computer disc. "You see all these things in memory. Then, you see them in actuality and they're so much better. So much physical. Can touch them. I can feel them."

"Yep, she's about as sane as normal," Luke said. "So, how'd it go with Angel Eyes?"

"Angel Eyes?" she asked. "That makes sense, when you consider what you want me for. Ironic nickname."

"Me?" Ryan wondered, not able to tell if he'd heard her right. What she had said in response to Luke's quip. "Don't you mean..."

"Oh crap," Bill said, throwing the book down to the table in front of him. "That's not Nahir!"

"No!" 'Nahir' exclaimed, folding her arms. "Really, it took you this long to figure it out. Some friends that you are. Not able to recognise when something's wrong, straight out of the bat."

"Guess we're not looking past the skin," Duo commented. "Which is when we'd probably see you. Real brave of you, hiding inside her."

"I don't care," the angel replied. "She's mine now! We'll never be apart."

"Okay, Wing-boy," Katie said, taking a step forward. "Joke's over. Let her go right now. Or we're going to have a problem."

"Yeah, I think we've got a problem anyway," Alastor replied, the voice so similar yet so different to the one that they were used to hearing from Nahir's mouth. "I dislike being used, which is essentially what you tried to do. You humans are evil little creatures. Sure, you try to save yourselves by searching for the Genesis Book, but you're all doomed. You can't save yourselves, you can't come close. Especially when the Genesis Book becomes mine. I shall rewrite a world where she and I can be together."

"Problem is," Luke said. "You don't know where they all are. Nobody does. So, that's not going to happen any time soon."

"I do know where one is though," the angel replied, looking over to the location of the hidden safe. "Hand it over and this won't end messily."

"Sorry, we found that fair and square," Katie said, moving over to stare down Alastor. Having to crane her neck down to look Nahir's body in the eye. "And, we don't want to fight, we don't want to attack you in that body. But, we will defend ourselves if you don't back off. Last chance."

"Do not think that you can stop me," Alastor warned. "I respectfully decline your offer."

Reaching out, the angel grabbed Katie's shoulders and tossed her aside. The red ranger smashing through the recently repaired window at the back of the bridge, letting out a yell of surprise and pain as she vanished out of view.

"Come on then!" Xavier yelled, moving over to engage Alastor. Throwing a punch at the angel, his attack was easily blocked, diverted upwards and made to return. Even activating his liquid skin, the blue ranger felt Alastor's strike, doubling over in choked pain. Without even blinking, the angel tossed him aside, knocking him out against the wall. Next, Ryan tried to come in on the action, throwing a kick at Nahir's body. Not missing a beat, Alastor grabbed his ankle and twisted him to the ground, swinging his body around to throw the green ranger at Lance and Bill. The impact of him hitting them enough to knock the three of them out. Looking at each other, Luke and Duo couldn't help but shrug. The purple ranger reaching out with the power of his mind, bringing a stack of shelves down onto Alastor. The angel easily holding it up with one hand, pushing it away from his host body.

"Shame if you did some damage to this body," he retorted, moving across to grab the two of them. Duo having been in the process of trying to turn himself invisible, only for the grip around his throat to stop it. "But, that's just by the by. Now..."

Banging the two of them together, Alastor watched them pass out from the impact. Quickly dropping them to the ground, he made a move towards the safe.

"... It's not important."

Bringing Nahir's arm up against the handle of the same, the angel jerked back, the door ripping open...

Only to feel a hand on the yellow ranger's shoulder.

"Put it down, Chuckles," Paige warned. "And back off!"  
Letting out a snarl of anger, Alastor spun around to swipe out at her. His hand passing straight through her neck, a momentarily surprised look flashing across Nahir's face.

"Of course," the angel remarked. "The spirit."

"I prefer Paige," she retorted, throwing another punch towards Alastor. Her attack easily being blocked, the angel brought up Nahir's hand to attack. A golden wave of energy starting to emerge from the palm.

"It doesn't matter," Alastor said, watching the energy hit Paige. The ghost completely vanishing from view as it engulfed her, he no longer cared. Instead turning back to the safe, his eyes falling upon the Eternal Flame inside. As well as a small golden jewel next to it, the sight of the item enough to send a shiver down his spine, just for a moment. Taking a deep breath, he scooped them both up and vanished away on a breeze of wind.

* * *

"Guys..."

Staggering out onto the bridge, one hand on her ribs, Katie quickly took a look around at the damage caused by the angel. Everyone present all on the verge of stirring, Alastor apparently electing not to have caused a great amount of damage to them. "Is everyone okay?"

"I'm good," Lance groaned, shoving the rapidly waking Ryan off the top of him. All to let himself and Bill get up. The PokéManiac instantly making a move towards the mangled wall safe to check on it. Ryan letting out a groan, as Lance accidentally trod on his leg, getting up.

"Careful, man!" the green ranger complained, pulling his leg up to rub at it. "It's not like the rest of me is in pristine condition."

"Well..." Bill said, pulling the limp door of the safe open. "He stole the artefact we have. As well as the jewel that gave off the message about crying angels. I kept it just in case."

"Oh man, this isn't good," Xavier groaned, rubbing at his eyes. "Man, oh man. Oh man... Man!"

"Yeah, we get that you're stressed," Duo said, picking himself up. "So, what now?"

"Well, we know that he's trying to assemble the Genesis Book himself," Luke remarked. "Which can't be good. In fact, it's..."

"We need to stop him right now," Katie said, reaching for her morpher. Adjusting the strap on her wrist from where it had been knocked clear. "And fast."

"Do you think that's even possible?" Xavier asked, helping Luke up to his feet. The purple ranger rubbing a bruise on his right eye, wincing out in pain.

"I have no idea," Lance said, looking over to the book on the table. Still where Bill had thrown it before Alastor had arrived. "Strong, fast, durable. Hyper marked on all three. I don't think that you can defeat him. I've read most of that book, he's read it twice..."

At this point, he brought his hand up to gesture at Bill, who slammed the safe door shut in anger.

"... There's nothing in there on how to destroy one," the Dragon Master continued. "Honestly, I think our best option might be working out how he got in here and trying to reverse it."

"Pity that there's no way to know that," Ryan commented. "I mean... We don't have that knowledge. If a Coppinger brought it in here, we haven't seen anything yet. I mean, the monster hasn't attacked."

"Probably letting Alastor do all of its dirty work," Duo remarked. "I hate it when they do that."

"A bit like when you suggested that Nahir do ours," Luke said, glaring over at the black ranger. "Seriously... break his heart... That looks so stupid right about now. Worst plan ever."

"Do you honestly think I knew this was going to happen?" Duo shot back. "Damnit, why couldn't he have acted like a guy? Rather than a pissed off higher being."

"Because, he's not a guy," Luke remarked. "At least, he is, but he's inside Nahir right now. Which is kinda creepy."

"Replace the word kinda with very," Xavier muttered. "I mean... It looks like her. It sounds like her. But..."

"Guys," Katie said, holding her hands up to try and keep them silent. "We can do this. Sure, it didn't go well. But, there has to be a way of stopping Alastor from doing whatever he plans. And getting Nahir back in the process. Bill, find him. Where he is, what it is that he's doing. It's time to end this."

* * *

"How goes it?" Ryan asked, rubbing an ice pack against the back of his head. "Because, I'm just eager to get back and have another round with Alastor."

"At least you've got that going on," Lance commented, folding his arms. "Just be careful. Very careful. This is no ordinary monster. Not one that you can spar with for a few minutes, before blowing it up with the Pentasis Blaster. And I'd wager that he's not going to grow to a giant size either."

"So, have you found him yet?" Katie asked, ignoring the Dragon Master. "No time to waste. The world is at stake."

"As per usual," Bill replied. "Okay, so I couldn't get a lock on him at first. I wasn't sure what to look for."

"Not what we need to hear," Duo said. "That's a bit of..."

"But," the PokéManiac interrupted. "I took some initiative. I ran the satellite over the Silver Gyarados. Noticed a small trace of unusual Genesis energy across this place. Did the same in the alley where Xavier and Duo saw him beat up the Cobra Rangers. And finally where Nahir encountered him in the church. Managed to triangulate the energy and it is..."

Leaning back away from the screen, he gestured to a spot in the middle of his monitor. Everyone present leaning in to see what he had found.

"That is where he is," Bill explained. "So... Why are you still here?"

"Think I might have a stomach ache," Duo quipped, as the five of them brought their morphers up. "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up when..."

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

Jumping down out of their Hover Chasers, the five rangers found themselves where Bill had told them to be. Nahir's familiar figure stood in the middle of the field, arms folded as Alastor looked at the sky.

"Hey, Alastor!"

Instantly reacting to the sound of the challenge, the angel turned to regard them with scant concern. Not seeming to be interested with the threat that they posed.

"This guy's really annoying me," Ryan muttered, cracking his knuckles. "I mean..."

"Are you going to annoy me all evening?" Alastor asked, passively. "Because, it is going to get very old very quickly."

"You've taken something that we want back," Katie replied. "Not the artefacts, but rather Nahir. It's not healthy what you're doing to her."

"I don't care," the angel said. "She's mine now. If you want her back, you better come and get her."

"If that's the way it has to be," Luke replied. "Then that's the way that it has to be."

Without hesitating, the five of them brought their weapons out. Instantly rushing towards Alastor, the angel barely looking to prepare against the oncoming assault. As Katie fired both Heat Blasters towards him, he seemed to bend back, just out of reach of the attack. The red ranger slowing up her run for the moment, Xavier, Luke, Duo and Ryan got past her. Making to attack with their weapons, Alastor turned his attention to them. Ryan got there first, taking a vicious swipe out at him with the Fauna Hammer. Without even blinking, Alastor directed Nahir's body into taking a step back away from the blow, the hammer sailing up out into the air. As Ryan tried to recover, Alastor hit him with a spin kick, the green ranger flying back through the air. Next, Duo took several swipes at him with the Shadow Sabre, the angel easily blocking them with Nahir's arms. The metal blade bouncing off the pale skin, the grin quickly being shot at the black ranger. Annoyed at the show of casual disregard, Duo went on the attack again. This time Alastor grabbing him by the throat and tossing him back. As the black ranger landed on his back, both Xavier and Luke came in with their weapons, trying to attack together. Only for Alastor to bring both arms up and stop the attacks mid-strike. Twisting them away, the blue and purple rangers were thrown to the ground, the angel hurling their weapons back at them. Finally, Katie came into the scene, throwing a pair of spin kicks towards the angel. Alastor evading both of them, continuing to do so as more attacks came in onto him. Biding his time, he finally saw the red ranger make a split second break. Throwing out a punch into her helmet, the angel watched Katie fly back through the air. Hitting the ground about ten feet in front of him.

"Unimpressive," he remarked, making the spookily eerie gesture of folding Nahir's arms. Something that the grounded rangers had seen many times before, a sign of frustration. "Yet, I feel that you're going to be a problem. You're not going to give up, I've got rid of your pet ghost, so I guess that leaves me just one..."

"Stop!"

More typical annoyed Nahir expressions flashing out across the face of the angel, Alastor turned to see Duo stood up. His weapon on the ground, hands by his side.

"What?"

"Stop," Duo repeated, wearily. "Just... stop. Stop taking it out on them. If you've got a problem with humanity because of what we planned... Then don't. It was entirely my idea. It's entirely my fault. I'm the one who came up with this whole sordid plan. Lay off everyone else."

"Really?" Alastor asked, sarcastically. "You think I don't know that, Duo. You think that I don't see her memories. Hearing you say it just confirms one thing to me."

"And what's that?" the black ranger wondered, wearily. In the next instant, Alastor moved. Faster than the eye could behold, he hit Duo in the stomach. Hard. Hard enough for Duo to be floored straight into the ground, yelling out in pain. Not letting up, Alastor quickly reached down and grabbed him again. Throwing another punch, this time into the black ranger's face. The helmet taking most of the impact, Duo still let out a yelp of pain. And another as Alastor struck out again. Followed by yet another. And another.

Until a harsh stream of laughter rang out, interrupting Alastor's moment of anger. Duo letting out a choking sound as he was given a respite for a moment.

"Bravo, bravo," Warpmax remarked, walking out onto the scene. Applauding what the angel was doing. "Truly beautiful sight. I mean... artistic."

"Guess we know now," Katie groaned, trying to get up. "I mean..."

"Uh oh," Xavier said, looking up behind him. Seeing the sight of the six Cobra Rangers approaching onto the scene. "It's really not getting much better."

The sight of the six evil rangers being something that had apparently not escaped the notice of Alastor, either. The angel instantly moving towards Warpmax with barely concealed anger.

"You brought them here!" he demande, ready to strike him down. "What are you trying to do."

"You better back down, buddy," Warpmax commented, looking over at Alastor. "Touch me and I can guarantee that you will never touch anything ever again. Because, of all these things in this world, I'm the one that you should fear the most. I created you, I can destroy you."

"You created an angel?" Xavier asked, trying to get up to his feet. "That's impressive."

"Well, you would think that," Warpmax said, smugly. "You can't comprehend anything else. Especially not this."

"What do you mean?" Ryan wondered. "Enlighten us if it's that simple."

"See, that thing there inside the yellow rangers body," Warpmax taunted. "Isn't even an angel. How about that? Walks like an angel, talks like an angel, hell even has the powers of an angel. Amazing the power that reading a book can give. All I did was turn a little fiction into reality. And now you've got to face the consequences. Have fun with that."  
"Then, our problem is with you!" Cobra Red roared, as he and the other Cobra Rangers began to form into two lines of three. "Terror Cannon!"

In no time at all, the six of them brought out their weapon. The Arbok shaped weapon quickly being levelled at the monster.

"Terror Cannon! Fire!"

At the command, the bright purple blast of energy exploded out of the weapon, crashing straight into Warpmax. The blast enough to completely obliterate his defenses and destroy the monster.

And, even as his remains fell to the ground, Alastor staggered back in pain. The five rangers instantly worried for Nahir as they saw her face contort in pain.

"That's how to get to him," Cobra Blue remarked, sadistically. "Look at the thing squirm."

"So much better when he's inside a ranger," Cobra Yellow said.

* * *

"Meredith!" Harley yelled, glancing over to where she was sat filing her nails. "Quickly get onto the scene and bring Warpmax back. Right now, or we face our entire plan being ruined."

Sighing as she got up, the mutant grabbed a vial of green and purple liquid, before vanishing away.

* * *

"How do you like that?" Cobra Black taunted, as Alastor clawed at Nahir's head in pain. Almost on the verge of passing out from the stress. "The Cobra revenge is..."  
Right on cue, Meredith appeared from out of nowhere. Everyone's attention immediately turning to her.

"Who are you?" Xavier demanded, dropping a hand to his waist. Trying to go for his Genesis Blaster, Meredith let out a laugh.

"I'm not sticking around, rangers," she said, dropping the liquid down over Warpmax's remains. "Ciao."

Even as she vanished, Warpmax was reanimated by the liquid, reforming and getting to his feet. As he began to grow to a giant size, Duo let out a groan of dismay. Compounded by the fact that Alastor had straightened up, his pain apparently gone.

"Is this going to get any worse?" he asked. "We can't form the Overload Megazord without Nahir."

"Then, you're not going to interfere," Cobra Red snarled at him, the six evil rangers forming up in a line. Quickly transforming themselves into the Silent Strike Megazord.

"Enemy of my enemy," Katie commented. "This can only be a good thing."

"You think you can destroy me?" Warpmax howled, moving in to attack the Silent Strike Megazord. "I'll destroy you!"

"Makes you wonder who is more insane at this point," Duo groaned, everyone on the ground watching the battle taking place above them. Even Alastor seemed determined to avoid continuing the fight, his face passive as he watched the two giant beings go at each other with violent intent. As Warpmax struck out with a fist, the Silent Strike Megazord blocked the blow, retaliating out with the Tail Strikes from its arms. The attacks whipping out with ferocious intent, smashing against his body, the monster couldn't help but yell out in pain. Especially when it was compounded by the Arbok head on the front of the Megazord opening up its mouth to fire out a powerful burst of Acid into him.

"Being destroyed can do that to you," Luke remarked. "Or being humiliated. Go Cobras! Kick his ass!"

"What are you doing?" Xavier asked. "I mean... Cheering for the Cobras. Have we really reached rock bottom?"

"Screw that, I want them to win," Luke replied, letting out another cheer as the Silent Strike Megazord hit out with another barrage of Tail Strikes into Warpmax. "They destroy him, then we get rid of Alastor."

"Is it me, or did that just make sense?" Katie commented, shaking her head. "Because..."

"Serpent Sabre!" Cobra Red shouted, inside the cockpit of the Silent Strike Megazord. "Now!"

Under the roar of the Cobra leader, the weapon appeared in the hands of the machine. Quickly being brought up and out, it began to glow with a bright purple energy.

"Payback's a bitch," Cobra Purple smirked, as the weapon came up. "And here it comes!"

"Toxic Slash!"

Bringing the weapon crashing down powerfully onto Warpmax, the blows were enough to force him back in pain. Clutching his stomach, he let out a shriek of agony before crashing to the ground and exploding.

* * *

The instant follow through effect becoming apparent on Alastor, the apparent angel shrieking in pain as the remains of the thing that had created him burned. All of the working quickly being undone in the space of seconds.

"Guess you lose, Angel Eyes," Duo said, no sympathy on his face under the helmet. "Don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out."

"No!" Alastor yelled, a portal appearing behind his borrowed body. The thing starting to drag him off inside it, shades of light emerging out of the yellow ranger's body, being pulled towards the swirling vortex. "She's mine! Mine!"

"You tried to take something that didn't belong to you," Luke said, glaring over at the angel. "This is karma at its best."

"I didn't know you believed in karma," Ryan remarked, glancing over at the purple ranger. "Things you learn."

"Only in special circumstances," he replied, Alastor dropping Nahir's body to its knees, trying to grab hold of the ground to keep in the world. "This is one of those times."

"I need to stay with her!" Alastor howled, still scrabbling at the earth. "No! Save me! That's what you do!"

"You think we should...?" Xavier started to ask, before Katie interrupted him. Shaking her head at the blue ranger.

"Everything has their time," she said. "And besides, there's nothing we can do."

"Please!" Alastor screamed, the golden light emerging from his back moving ever closer to the portal. "No! I love her!"

As he made another futile gesture to stay inside Nahir's body, the stress finally got to him. A small silver stream of tear running down the yellow ranger's cheek.

"Speaking of that," Duo remarked, looking at the silver of liquid. Suddenly suspended in front of the thrashing Alastor, a glowing blue light began to emerge from out of the pocket of Nahir's jeans. The golden jewel that had given off the message that had lead them to this point in the first place slowly floating out, to combine with the tear. Mutating out to form a brand new jewel, one that was blue with gold flecks inside it. "Think we've got another jewel."

"No!" Alastor screamed, finally losing the fight. As Nahir was thrown forward, the final trace of golden light vanished through the portal behind her, instantly closing as Alastor vanished.

"And, we have got it!" Luke yelled. "Rangers one, Poor excuse for an angel nil. Three points in the bag."

"Remind me to send flowers to the Cobra's," Katie remarked, the five of them running over to where Nahir was crouched. The yellow ranger still shaking with the stress of what had happened. "Are you okay?"

"I... I don't know," she said, slowly. "What happened? Where am I?"

"Don't mean to rush you back into the action," Xavier said, glancing up in worry towards the Silent Strike Megazord. "But, we do have a kinda large problem on our hands at this moment in time."

"You feel up for a quick transformation?" Katie asked, looking down to Nahir's morpher. "Because, we kinda need you."

"I'm okay, I'm fine," she insisted, bringing the item in question up. "Genesis Overload!"

Pushing the button, she activated the morpher, quickly transforming into her ranger suit.

"Transformation time!" the yellow ranger continued, she and the other five rangers transforming into their Eevee forms.

"Overload Zords! Megazord formation!"

Under the command, the six Zords turned into their robot forms and began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbs and tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. As the Megazord stood up straight, it stretched out its arms. Without waiting for a sign, the Overload Megazord moved in to strike the Silent Strike Megazord in the back with a punch. The enemy Megazord quickly rounding on them to cover the machine in Acid. As the corrosive material fell across the Overload Megazord, the Tail Strikes came crashing out in a violent frenzy. Shock waves rippling out through the body of the robot.

"Psycho Punch!" Luke yelled, the Overload Megazord quickly bringing up its fist to crack a powerful psychic type backed punch into the body of the Silent Strike Megazord. The blow forcing the evil Megazord back away from the Overload Megazord.

"You're going down!" Nahir said, hitting a button in front of her. "Despite the fact that I owe you some thanks. Genesis Blaster! Charge Beam!"

At her command, the weapon came up out of the compartment in the Vaporeon leg of the Megazord. Quickly being levelled at the Silent Strike Megazord, a bright yellow beam of energy erupted out, crashing into the opposition Megazord. The damage, in combination with what had been dealt in the battle with Warpmax, enough to down the Silent Strike Megazord. The Cobras hitting the grass below them, back in their regular ranger forms.

"This isn't over!" Cobra Red snarled, before the six of them began to teleport away. Leaving just the rangers in the Overload Megazord alone.

"Well," Katie said, removing her helmet from her head for a breather. "At least that's over. And we got another artefact."

"Small relief and all," Nahir muttered, darkly.

* * *

"Hey, Bill!" Xavier asked, moving out onto the bridge, the rest of the rangers following him through. The badly injured Duo bringing up the rear, moving gingerly up the stairs. "Did Paige reappear yet? After what Alastor apparently did to her."

"I haven't seen her," the PokéManaic replied. "And we've looked as well. I've had Lance running the spectral scanner around the boat. She's not here."  
"Or she's not back yet," Katie said. "If it's the same in a day, I'll be worried."

"Man, I can't believe what happened," Nahir said, dolefully. "What a horrible horrible mess this turned out to be. I just relieved that none of you guys were hurt."

"Well, actually..." Duo started to say, before being interrupted by the yellow ranger.

"At least, nobody who didn't have at least some of it coming."

"That was pretty spooky," Ryan commented. "Seeing you all psychopathic and evil like that. I really was worried at one point."

"Which is a bit harsh," Nahir said. "Personally, I don't think that he was evil. Just... Torn up. It was a pretty cruel thing that we tried with him. I never want to be in that role again."

"None of us do," Xavier remarked. "We try that again, we're as bad as the Coppingers. The only saving grace about the whole thing being that it paid off."

"That's the only thing that makes me feel better about the whole thing," Nahir said, glancing down to the Empath Sapphire and the Eternal Flame in her hand. "We managed to get them back. Now, we've got two artefacts."

"Is it too early to bring this up?" Luke asked, looking around to the rest of the group. "Because, I remember what Warpmax said. You say Alastor wasn't evil... He also wasn't an angel. He was rather the rendered image of an angel created from what it said in a book. Lowest technical term, he wasn't an angel. He was an imitation of an angel. I seem to remember a certain bet..."

"Oh crap," Nahir groaned. "I don't remember that. When did that happen? For that matter, whose Warpmax."  
"As much as you'll hate me for saying it, Nahir," Katie remarked. "Luke is right. You didn't hear it because you were under control by Alastor, but he wasn't an angel. Sorry."

"Oh, right," the yellow ranger replied. "Just... give me a few days to get my head back together. It was stressful for me, this."

"Think I can arrange that," Luke said, still smirking. "At least you're upholding the conditions of the bet."

"I'm not going to buizel my way out of it," she replied, narrowing her eyes at him. "If you think that of me, then you don't know me as well as you think you do."

"I never said that you were going to try and get out of it," Luke said, sounding shocked by the suggestion. "Just commenting that you were at least honest enough to do it."

"Anyway..." Duo remarked, heading off down the corridor down towards the cabins. "If you'll excuse me, I'm just going to throw up a heck of a lot of blood."

"Have fun," Xavier quipped, as the black ranger vanished out of view.

* * *

"Hey, can I come in?"

Looking around the corner of the door, Katie saw Duo at the opposite end of his cabin, shirt off and rubbing something into his injuries from the fight with Alastor.

"Appears you already have," he replied, making an exaggerated hand sweeping gesture. "Come to chew me out over what happened? I don't blame you... I mean, I'd do that to me in this situation."

"At least you had the cojones to admit to him what you came up with was wrong," Katie remarked, looking over at the black ranger. Struggling to rub something into his injuries, he actually made quite a distressing sight.

"Yeah, and look where it got me," he replied, bitterly wincing as he struggled to reach around his back to massage something into the skin. "I'm in absolute agony."  
Reaching down to pick up the empty carton of what he'd been using, Katie couldn't help be surprised at the contents.

"Super Potion?" she asked. "You're rubbing that into your skin to try and alleviate the pain?"

"Yeah," Duo said, still trying to reach the spot on his upper back. "It stings like a Beedrill, but it's actually pretty good at getting rid of the pain when you take that out."

"Go figure," she commented, finally making a decision. Tearing the top off the carton, she reached two fingers inside, finding a small deposit at the bottom. "Turn around."

"Huh?" he asked, giving her a strange look. "What do you...?"

"That part that's giving you trouble," the red ranger insisted, gesturing to the part he'd been struggling to get to. "Turn around, I'll get it for you."  
"Nah, you don't have to..." Duo began to say, before thinking better of it. Katie almost seeing the regular Duo flash straight back into existence in front of her eyes. "Go on then. If you don't mind."

"Seen as how I offered," she replied, moving on closer to him. Starting to rub her Super Potion covered fingers against the multicoloured bruise at the top of his back, the flinch immediately became apparent as she touched him. "Just try to relax."

"You after one from me?" he asked, not even sounding like he was joking. Instantly letting out a yelp, as she 'accidentally' applied a little too much force to his injuries.

"Wondered how long it'd take for the real you to appear again."

"Oh ha ha."

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Whew... Enjoyed this two parter.**

**At least they got a break from the Cobras. Strange source of aid, but...**

**And another artefact. Which is good for them.**

**Thanks for the reviews. All appreciated.**

**Awww to the scenes at the end. Looks like good times on the Silver Gyarados.**

**Next one is entitled Happy Birthday Ryan. Up soon, preview below, yadda yadda yadda.**

**Errr... That's about it. Next two parter will be only a few chapters away actually. So, all that's left to say is...**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Please! Alastor is replying to this chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen, Happy Birthday Ryan, preview.**

**Ryan: It's my birthday.**

**Katie: Really?**

**Duo: You should have said something.**

**Copper: Let's see how they like this.**

**Ryan: How do you feel?**

**Nahir: Miserable.**

**Bill: Interesting. Most interesting.**

**Ryan: This had to happen on my birthday.**

* * *

**Coming soon.**


	16. Happy Birthday Ryan

Chapter Sixteen. Happy Birthday Ryan.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As Harley and Meredith put their plan into motion to bring an angel into the world, Alastor appeared, instantly striking up a connection with Nahir. As the yellow ranger tried to reject him in an effort to make him cry, he flipped out and attacked her. Taking possession of her body, he went on a journey to try and gather the artefacts of the Genesis Book himself. Stealing the ones that the rangers had, he even did something to Paige, before leaving. Going for one final confrontation with the angel, the five rangers were quickly defeated. Duo even taking a heavy beating before the arrival of Warpmax and the Cobras. In another battle, Warpmax was destroyed by the Cobras, his destruction ensuring that Alastor was sent back to wherever he had came. As he vanished, he let out a tear, which created the Empath Sapphire. Finally, after a brief battle with the Silent Strike Megazord, the rangers returned to the Silver Gyarados to recover..._

* * *

"Paige! Paige!"

"Don't think she's here," Duo commented, the two of them wandering around in the bowels of the Silver Gyarados. Over three days having passed since the ghost had last been seen by anyone, the last lingering remnant of what the problems with Alastor had lead to. In that time, they'd spent every day looking for the vanished ghost. And in that time, Katie had changed her hair colour again, going from purple to red with white streaks. Much to the amusement of her friends when they'd first seen it, Duo having made the comment that she'd had red hair when he'd first met her. That was when she'd added the streaks.

"Well, where is she then?" Katie asked. "We do need to find her. Who knows what happened to her."

"I still don't think that she's here," Duo commented. "Either that, or she's stuck in a machine and can't hear us over the roar..."

"That's just not a nice thought," the red ranger remarked. "Honestly... And, if she's a ghost, how could she be stuck in one of the machines?"

"Being plain unlucky?" the black ranger asked. "Seems to sum her up just as lately."

"From what we've picked up on the cameras," Katie replied. "Alastor got the drop on her. It happens. Suppose she expected that he wouldn't be able to hit her back."

"And now she's elsewhere," Duo muttered. "Speaks of unlucky for me. Maybe he just... You know, zapped her about a thousand miles away. Ghost or not, it's going to take her a while to get back here. Plus, with us being on the water, it's not like she's going to be able to... You think she can walk on water?"

"All I know is that she's not here," Katie said, rolling her eyes. "Guess that we'll have to call it a day. See if tomorrow brings us our missing ghost friend back from the greater beyond."

"Doesn't that create a resoundingly great image," he remarked. "Just improves the whole thing by about ten times."

"Anyway, guess we better get back upstairs and see what's going on," the red ranger commented, turning to head for the stairs. "See if there's an impending crisis about to happen."

"You go on ahead," Duo replied, stretching out his arms. "I'm going to stick here for a moment. Just take another sweep. Maybe look inside a few machines."

"Okay then..."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"So... How's it going?" Katie asked, spotting Ryan heading down the corridor. "You in the middle of anything?"

"Not really," he replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Just wondering..."

"Wondering about what?" she asked, quickening her pace to catch up with him. "Something on your mind?"  
"Well..." the green ranger said,slowly. "It's my birthday."

"Really?" Katie said, surprised. "Are you sure?"

"Only for the last two decades," he said. "I mean, what sort of question is that?"

"Okay, point taken," she admitted. "Happy birthday, anyway."

"Thanks."

"So, anything else going on?" the red ranger wondered. "Anything else at all that I should know about? Where is everyone?"

"Well, Lance and Bill are on the bridge," Ryan said, looking a little hurt. "Xavier, Nahir and Luke had to head ashore for something, and Duo is wherever he was when he left you behind. Still no sign of Paige?"

"She's not here," Katie replied. "I'm starting to think that we'll never see her again."

"Ah, she's tough," Ryan commented. "She came back from the dead once. She can probably do it again."

"Yeah..." Katie said, folding her arms. "I tell you what. Have a good birthday. There's some drinks in one of the cabins, we'll open them up later on. Celebration, yeah?"

"Sounds like a plan," he replied, cracking a smile. "Thanks."

* * *

"Hey, man."

Looking up from where he was using the weights, Duo saw Ryan looking out into the gym. A grin on his face as he leaned against the door.

"What's going on?" the black ranger asked, replacing them on the set. "How's it going?"

"Well, I'm thinking that I wish I was on dry land," Ryan replied. "We don't get mail out here."

"You expecting something?" Duo wondered. "Because..."

"Hopefully, a few birthday cards," Ryan said. "I mean..."

"Why, is it your birthday?You should have said something," Duo commented. "I'd have... Probably forgotten it. Still, have a good one."

"Thanks, man," Ryan replied, a little surprised by the genuineness of Duo's words. "I appreciate it. Apart from the forgetting it part."

"Hey, what are friends for?"

* * *

"Can't believe that we got given this crappy task," Luke grumbled, as he, Xavier and Nahir came out of the store. "I mean... Insta-Mail."

"No time, is there?" Xavier replied, quickly. "That takes at least fifteen hours."

"Well, if we'd had more prior warning," the purple ranger retorted.

"You wouldn't be saying that if it was your birthday," Nahir commented. "So..."

"Only because I wouldn't know about it by this point," Luke protested. "Don't pull that one on me."

"What you getting for him?" Xavier wondered. "Because, I don't have a clue. I suck at gift buying."

"I was going to get him a pass for a years worth of Sunder-ade," Luke replied. "Since he likes the stuff so much."

"You put a lot of thought into that," Nahir commented, sourly. "Jeez."

"Well, what about you then?" Luke snapped back. "Come on, what are you getting for him?"

"Aftershave and a book."

"That's narrowed down my choices," Xavier complained. "I mean..."

"Oh, and Katie asked me to pick something up from the post office for her," Nahir said. "Which means that whatever is in here, you can't get him as well, or it looks lazy."

"What's Duo getting him?" Luke asked. "I mean... Do you know?"

"Who knows what Duo's going to do," Xavier commented. "He's probably going to wing it and pull something out of his ass at the last minute."

"Remind me not to touch whatever he gets Ryan," Nahir said, rolling her eyes. "Because it's likely to be..."

"Still annoyed with him, huh?" Luke wondered. "You think that that's likely to change any time soon?"

"Who knows."

"Well, you two used to hate each other," Xavier commented. "And look at you now..."

"Hate's too strong a term," Nahir replied. "I prefer to use violently dislike."

"Aw, love you too, Nahir," Luke quipped, sarcastically. "Anyway, good thing that we got a heads up about this."

"Anyway, you think we need a banner or something?" Xavier asked, glancing over at a shop across from them. "It'll look pretty bare otherwise. And I don't think that we have them on the boat."

As the three of them made a move towards the shop, they didn't notice a figure watching them in the background. A lone Dogbot seeing them go in, before vanishing away.

* * *

That robot in question appearing within the old abandoned swimming pool, frequented by two of the Coppingers. Both of them looking over to it, hearing what the thing had to say in quick frequent barks.

"They're up to something," Fuller remarked, folding her arms. "It saw them buying some supplies. Almost in a celebratory light. They're having some sort of celebration."

"Interesting," Copper replied, looking down at the bag of stones in front of him. "Can we exploit this situation?"

"Of course we can," she snickered. "Out of all the monsters we have stored in those stones, one can surely do the job here."

"Plus, we don't have anything else to go on," Copper suggested. "Maybe in doing this, we can get a hit on an artefact. You want to do the honour?"

Holding out the bag towards her, he watched Fuller bring one of the stones out and toss it to the ground. Seeing it shatter, a wave of white energy erupted out through the air, a shape materialising across from them.

"What do we have here?" the female Coppinger asked, as the energy vanished to reveal the monster. A large Chansey creature with a brown sack across her back, a black mask across her eyes and a purple egg in her middle. "Who are you?"

"I am Joythief," the monster replied. "I steal happiness, glee, joy... Even good memories. All make my life so much better and my stomach so much fuller. What can I do for you?"

"We have a small ranger problem," Fuller said. "And there's always the room for chaos. If you can do that, then we're happy. Plus, there's..."

"Artefacts," Copper continued. "Preferably of the Genesis variety."

"Ah, that's what you're after."

* * *

"Say what you like," Nahir commented, as she and the other two rangers came out of the bakery. "But, that looks like one tasty cake. Awesome cake."

"I'm just glad that I finally found an awesome gift for him," Xavier said. "And that cake does look good."

"Can't believe that you got that," Luke remarked. "I mean... Come on."

"Whatever it says, it'll be worth a laugh at least," Xavier replied. "Assuming that..."

Right on cue, a squad of Dogbots appeared out of nowhere in the street in front of them. A spent ball capsule dissolving into dust on the ground next to the gang.

"That doesn't happen," Xavier finished. "Had to open my mouth, huh?"

"Yeah, don't do that again," Luke commented. "Ever."

Dropping their assortment of bags and packages, the three of them took to the street, ready to fight. Xavier throwing a punch at the one closest to him, the robotic soldier snapping back at him as the blow struck in the stomach. Not letting up, the blue ranger hit it with a snap kick, the Dogbot hitting the ground. Hard. Across from the two of them, Nahir was fighting three of them, using her super speed to easily match them and evade their strikes. Finally, she managed to herd the three enemies into a huddled group, before taking them down with a final lightning quick blow. Looking at the remaining ones surrounding him, Luke let out a crafty grin at them. Holding both hands up with a smirk.

"Come on, guys," he quipped. "It's not about what you do on the ball..."

Extending his hands out, the purple ranger let loose a blast of psychic energy. Throwing the six of them all back away from him, the machines all crashing back through the air.

"It's about what you do off the ball."

Even as the fight was going on, Joythief appeared next to the momentarily abandoned packages. Looking down at the cake, she flashed it with a beam of energy, the item glowing for a second before returning to normal.

"Enjoy it, rangers," she snickered, before vanishing away. The Dogbots quickly following, leaving the three rangers surprised.

"Come on!" Xavier yelled. "What was the point of that?"

* * *

"So..." Ryan said. "That beer sounds good right about now."

"Well, there's plenty of Black Persian in there," Katie replied, letting him move forward to open the door to one of the large ball rooms deep in the Silver Gyarados. "Just..."

As he pushed the door open, the instant wave of sound erupted out over the two of them. Ryan's face lighting up at the sight.

"SURPRISE!"

"Okay, wow," the green ranger said, looking around at the scenes in front of him. At the massive banner with the words Happy Birthday written on it, the rangers and crew of the Silver Gyarados all below it. A pair of tables full of beer, cake and gifts surrounding them.

"Happy birthday, Ryan!" Nahir shouted. "You think we forgot?"

"I did, actually," he replied. "I mean... Since none of you seemed to know earlier."

"That was all a cunning ruse," Katie said, smiling at him. "We saw it on your Facebook page and decided to..."  
"Throw you a surprise party," Duo finished. "Think I played my part to perfection. Even to that post I put up earlier. 'Oh crap, I forgot my friends birthday.' And then I have to see the message that Felix Jefferson likes my status."

"Okay, wow," Ryan repeated. "You guys are the best. I mean... You actually put a lot of thought into this."

"Well, we had to fight Dogbots off to get this stuff here," Xavier remarked. "Since they attacked us right after we came out of the bakery."

"That's some pretty high standards to live up to," Bill said, starting to cut the cake up. "Pity that... Anyway, as was already said, this looks delicious and since we're all hungry..."

In no time at all, there were eight pieces of cake on the table. Everyone grabbing up an implement and starting to eat. All apart from Bill, the sudden sound of his cell phone ringing out, enough to prevent him from starting to ingest it.

"Yeah, hello," the PokéManiac said, putting his plate down. "Who is it?"

Shaking his head, he looked around the room. At the looks of revulsion passing across the faces of everyone, almost as if the cake had turned to ash inside their collective mouths.

"Great Arceus," Luke complained. "Jeez, that's horrible. Come on, that's even removing every memory of how good cake used to taste."

"I can't remember how good cake used to taste," Duo said. "I mean... It's sad. I mean... I feel literally sad about it."

"I know the feeling," Lance commented. "I feel dead inside. Literally."

"So, how do you feel?" Ryan asked, looking around the room to the rest of the rangers. "Is it just me, or..."

"Miserable," Nahir said, grumpily. "I mean... Miserable."

"Interesting," Bill remarked, looking down at the cake. At the one remaining piece in front of them. "I feel fine, I'm the only one who didn't have any cake? Anyone else think that's a coincidence? Most interesting."

"This had to happen on my birthday," Ryan said, sulkily. "Come on!"

"Before anyone breaks down in tears," Bill interrupted. "Or throws something or..."

Not even waiting to hear him finish, Xavier stormed out of the room. Not willing to listen to any more of what the PokéManiac had to say.

"... Does that," he remarked. "I'll try to find out if there's any source of Genesis energy active within the region. Maybe it can lead us to whatever did this to you. And whatever did this can presumably be destroyed, getting rid of your lack of birthday joy."

"What's the point?" Katie asked. "I mean, honestly what is the point."

* * *

"Okay, then," Bill said, glancing around to the group of people congregated behind him in the bridge. "Before much more ado, what's going on with you guys? How do you feel?"

"Crappy," Duo replied. "I mean, really really crappy."

"Like I drank a bottle full of drain cleaner," Luke offered. "I feel... Hollow inside."

"How's that any different from normal?" Nahir wondered, bitterly. "Still miserable. Yet, I can still cope. It's like I'm walking around with... I'm not on the verge of collapsing with grief."

"Same here," Xavier muttered. "Just..."

"Impassive," Katie said. "Like I'm not going to be happy again. Ever. I can't even remember what that feels like."

"I know it's my birthday, but I can't help but not care," Ryan remarked. "It's just... completely crap."

"Like someone sucked the joy right out of me," Lance muttered. "Not even the thought of a good battle can..."

"Anyway, I've got a lock on the thing," Bill replied. "Possibly the thing that did this. If not, it's worth checking out. Could be a clue to another artefact."

"Oh yay for that," Katie said, taking a step back. "Come on then, let's go and see what it is. Because we apparently don't have enough irrelevant crap to deal with."

Bringing their morphers up, the six of them began to activate them.

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

"Hey hey," Joythief called, walking on into the hideout used by Copper and Fuller. Suddenly frantically waving at the two of them. "I'm back, pretties."

"So you are," Copper remarked, darkly. "And why? Why are you back when you could be causing chaos."

"My chaos is pretty good for the moment," the monster protested. "I'm getting fat off all the joy that I'm stealing from the good people of the Verger region. Sure it does taste good, but..."

"So, get fatter," Fuller said. "Unless you've got something to..."

"Dark times hide the true nature of an eclipse," Joythief said, looking over to the two Coppingers. "A little warning from the heavens. I was in the middle of spreading a little misery when that flashed into my head. That strange little phrase."

"What does that even mean?" Copper demanded. "Where did you..."

"That's the funny thing about the Genesis artefacts," the monster continued. "When they start to close in together, strange things can happen. That's my best explanation."

"Where did you see this message?" Fuller demanded, looking over at a map of Verger. "Because if this message is as vital as you make out, we wouldn't want the rangers to find out about it. Would we?"

"Those miserable little punks?" Joythief retorted. "They're too tangled up in their own crap to stop me."

"I'd still appreciate it if you did it," Copper said, calmly. "This is too risky to leave to chance."

"Nah, I'm pretty confident that..."

"Just do it!" Fuller snapped. "I'm not in the mood for your crap."

* * *

"Okay, this is it," Bill said, through the communicators in their helmets. "You're in approximately the right spot. Give or take several feet. Just keep a look out for..."

"Well, this is a waste of time," Duo commented, kicking at the ground. "What the hell are we even doing here? It's all one big pointless joke."

"And you six are the punch line!"

Instantly looking around, the rangers saw Joythief looking down at them. A smirk on her face, as she began to applaud them.  
"At least someone's happy," Luke commented. Not a trace of humour within his voice. "That's..."

"Are you trying to make a joke?" Nahir asked. "Because, it sucked."

"I thought it was funny," Joythief remarked. "But, of course, you six wouldn't. 'Cos I've got your sense of humour!"

Her final words, said in a taunting sing song were all enough to completely wind up Katie. The red ranger bringing out one of her Heat Blasters to shoot at the monster. Joythief howling in pain as the red hot blast left a burn on her shoulder.

"You'll pay for that!" she howled, charging forward across the ground. Barrelling through Katie, past Duo, into Xavier, forcing Ryan aside, striking Nahir to the ground and finally throwing Luke up into the air. "I'll wipe you all out myself."

Jumping up to try and hit back at the monster, Katie was quickly thrown back into the ground, rolling away.

"Come on!" she taunted. "That all you got? Because I'm still ready for you. And the more you get beat, the more miserable you're going to get. Which..."

Turning around on the spot, she hit Duo with a powerful Focus Punch. The blow easily throwing the black ranger through the air, Duo yelling out in pain as he hit the grass. To come back, Xavier, Nahir and Luke tried to attack as one. Joythief spinning on the spot, knocking them all back away from her. As Ryan sprang up to join in the assault, the monster hurled an Egg Bomb at him. The green ranger crashing to the ground, groaning in agony.

"And it's time to finish you all off," the monster snickered, watching them try to regroup. "You can't win. You can't even..."

As she spoke, the monster was moving forward. Ready to strike the rangers down. Yet, taking her completely by surprise, a flash of white energy rang out. Striking her in the face, interrupting her mid sentence and forcing her back.

"What the...?" she yelled. "What was that?"

"Don't know," Ryan said, scrambling to his feet. "But, we just got our opportunity to get back into the battle. Let's do it, guys! Pentasis Blaster!"

All the rangers apart from Katie bringing out their weapons, they quickly combined them together into forming the weapon. Ryan taking it before levelling it over at Joythief. Katie across from him forming her Flareon Battle Rifle.

"I really wish I was happy right now," Ryan quipped. "Because... Seems like a moment. Pentasis Blaster! Fire!"

"Flareon Fury!" Katie yelled, the two rangers pulling the triggers of their weapons. The twin beams of energy racing out through the air, hitting Joythief in the stomach. Instantly enough to blow her up, her remains hitting the ground below where she had been stood.

* * *

"Well, that's another epic failure," Copper remarked, folding his arms. The sack opening up, before a ball of white energy emerged out, quickly vanishing into the atmosphere through a hole in the roof of the abandoned swimming pool. "And I'm not holding my breath for anything more."

"Have a little faith in that useless monster," Fuller commented.

* * *

"Hey, I'm feeling a bit better," Ryan said, punching the air. "I feel happy enough to do that."

"I'd forgotten what it felt like to be happy," Nahir remarked, smiling away under her helmet. "This is... Great."

"Hold that thought," Katie warned, as the light fell down onto Joythief's remains. The monster quickly reanimating and growing to a huge size, laughing down at the rangers. "Guess we're going to have to bring in the buzz kill for this thing."

"Save the jokes for me," Duo commented. "I tell them better."

"Time to transform," Ryan said, the six of them instantly transforming into their Eevee forms.

"Let's do this," Luke remarked. "I'm probably not the only one who wants to kick this things ass every which way."

"Overload Zords! Megazord formation!"

Under the command, the six Zords turned into their robot forms and began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbs and tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. As the Megazord stood up straight, it stretched out its arms.

"I'm all for kicking ass," Ryan said. "Let's get the thing."

In no time at all, the Megazord moved forward, throwing a punch at Joythief's head. The monster complaining at the discomfort suffered, moving to hit back. The Focus Punch striking the giant robot in the stomach, sending it staggering back.

"Think we might need a little extra firepower," Nahir commented. "Time for Psycho Thunder Strike!"

At her command, the Megazord held up its hands. Shooting out a beam of psychic type energy towards Joythief, the blast surrounded by streams of lightning. As it raced through the air, the blast hit the monster, causing her to scream in pain. Not letting up, the Overload Megazord hit out with another series of blows.

"Take this!" she screeched, striking out with another act of attack. Hurling an Egg Bomb attack against the machine, the blast creating a massive scorch mark across the chest of the Megazord.

"You know how much that's going to leave a mark?" Katie asked, angrily. "It's not like we can hammer this out. Genesis Blaster!"

At the command, the Megazord brought the weapon up out of the Vaporeon leg. Aiming it at Joythief, Katie looked around to the rest of the rangers inside the cockpit.

"Now, what shall we go with?" she wondered. "Any suggestions?"

"Solar Beam!" Ryan yelled. "Use that!"

At the shout from the green ranger, the weapon fired. Unleashing a white hot beam of energy through the air, the six of them saw it sear against Joythief. The monster letting out yet another screech of agony.

"You're officially done for!" Ryan shouted. "Genesis Staff!"

Holding its arms up into the air, the weapon appeared in the hands of the Megazord. Sweeping it up and around in no time.

"Wait! Wait!" she yelled, almost sensing what was coming. "Dark times hide the true nature of an eclipse! Dark times hide the true nature of an eclipse! Spare me!"

"Is that meant to be a clue?" Xavier asked, shrugging his shoulders. "Lucky break."

"Can't leave her alive," Duo said. "She's too much of a risk. Because..."

"I know," Ryan replied. "It's time for Element Overload!"  
At the green ranger's command, the blade of the weapon began to glow with energy. Slashing across the chest of the monster six times, the cuts glowing with red, black, blue, green, yellow and purple energy. The strike completely taking her out, forcing her back.

"But... Why?" she howled, before collapsing to the ground, exploding into hundreds of pieces. The remains instantly starting to burn on the grass below them.

"Everything should slowly get back to normal right now," Katie said. "I mean... It should. It usually does."

"Don't suppose anyone knows what she meant by the thing about the eclipse?" Luke wondered. "Because, that was cryptic."

"Like I said before, it has to be a clue," Xavier said. "She thought that it'd make us spare her, so why would she lie?"

"That's not the thing I'm worried about most," Duo replied. "What was that white light that saved us earlier? When she was about to go for the throat. It saved our asses, big style."

"Guess we're going to find out in time," Nahir remarked. "It's about the only thing that can tell us."

"Anyway," Katie said, rubbing her hands together. "I believe that there's somewhere else that we need to be."

* * *

"So glad that we can carry on with the festivities," Ryan said, the six rangers walking back into the room where they'd held his surprise party earlier. "That's one good thing, anyway..."

"Plus, there's still the presents," Duo commented. "Never got around to opening them, huh?"

"That's not the only thing that's back," Lance said. "Apart from the resounding sense of joy returning to us all."

"What do you mean?" Xavier asked, looking around the room. "What is..."  
"Me."  
Instantly looking around to back the way that they had come, the six of them saw Paige stood watching. A smile on her face.

"I'm back, guys," she said. "I'd offer you a hug, but... You know. Still a ghost. Happy birthday, Ryan."

"Thanks, Paige," he replied. "Good to see you again."

"Where have you been?" Katie wondered. "Seems like forever since we last..."

"Some other time," she replied. "Some other time, I'll tell you. Today, it's about Ryan."

* * *

"Great stuff, guys, thanks," Ryan said, looking at the stuff that he'd acquired as gifts. A custom made Net Ball engraved with his initials from Katie, the stuff that Nahir and Luke had said they were getting for him, a book on raising Eevee from Bill, a Pokémon egg from Lance, a black leather jacket with a Leafeon on the back from Duo and a Poké Rangers video game from Xavier.

"Glad that you like it," Lance said. "That egg came from one of my Pokémon, but I'm not going to tell you which."

"Well, that would ruin the surprise," Ryan replied. "So... How about we fire up the Xbox and have a tournament on Poké Rangers."

"Dibs on red SDI ranger!" Xavier quipped. "Sounds like a plan."

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Awww...**

**Anyway, at least it all turned out fine in the end. As it usually does.**

**Cryptic comments. What could it mean? And what was the white light? Who knows, but the answer will be revealed in the next few chapters. I'm sure you might be able to guess anyway. Especially since only six of the seven Eevee power sprites are accounted for...**

**Thanks for the reviews. All appreciated completely.**

**Anyway, for the next one... It'll be entitled Video Games Made Me Do It. Yeah, take a guess at what that one's about. Anyway, preview below, up soon.**

**Oh, and Paige didn't die.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Ryan is replying for this chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen, Video Games Made Me Do it, preview.**

**Xavier: Yeah, rock and roll! Sattlizer is still awesome after all this time.**

**Nahir: Can't believe you guys have been playing that for three straight days.**

**Bill: There's something going on with this.**

**Katie: A couple of people decided to riot while I was in the city.**

**Lance: Funny that it happened after all of them played the video game.**

**Ryan: It's probably unrelated.**

**Bill: You're only saying that because you want to keep on playing.**

**Duo: Damn straight.**

* * *

**Coming soon.**


	17. Video Games Made Me Do it

Chapter Seventeen. Video Games Made Me Do it.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_In the aftermath of the battles with Alastor, the rangers tried to find Paige after she vanished. Coming up empty, they soon had the small matter of Ryan's birthday to deal with. As Katie and Duo faked the illusion that they knew nothing about it, the rest of the rangers went to get supplies. Ones that were soon intercepted by the latest monster from Copper and Fuller, Joythief who spiked the cake. Under miserable influence, Bill managed to track down the monster, sending the rangers after her. The six of them even getting some help from a strange flash of white energy, before defeating Joythief. As she desperately tried to save herself, she yelled out a possible clue for the next artefact. Seconds before being destroyed by the Overload Megazord. In the aftermath, they returned to the Silver Gyarados to find Paige back and finish the celebrations. Culminated with the eight of them playing video games..._

* * *

"Yeah, rock and roll!" Xavier yelled, throwing down the controller. "Sattlizer is still awesome after all this time."

"Jeez, it's only been seven months since you used it," Ryan commented. "I think..."

"Another ass kicked," the blue ranger crowed, picking his controller back up. "And I'm officially the grand champion. I miss my Battlizer."

"I miss working hands," Paige commented. "How come nobody uses the pink G-Force ranger? Awesome set of weapons."

"No comment," Duo replied. "Pity our new costumes aren't available in it. Or the new bad guys."

"The designers don't know who the new bad guys are, probably," Katie said, looking at the back of the box. "But, the Genesis costumes should be available as part of DLC soon."

"Yeah, it'll be so much better when I'm in it," Ryan said. "Or at least, my ranger alter-ego is. You guys are all in it."

"Or rather, our ranger alter-egos are," Xavier replied. "Aww, man. So much like Super Smash Brawl, but so much better. Rangers against rangers, bad guys against rangers... Beat 'em up fun for all the family."

"So, you're not thinking of using anyone other than red SDI ranger?" Katie asked. "Come on, the only reason you keep winning is because you crank out the Battlizer. Not because you're any good."

"Hey, I've got a special relationship with that suit."

"That's just a creepy comment," Katie said, folding her arms. "And last time I checked, I wore that suit once. Which..."

"I wore it over fifty times. Beat that."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"Can't believe you guys have been playing that for three straight days," Nahir commented, walking into the room. Seeing Xavier, Duo and Ryan still sat at the console, inane grins on their faces. "I mean... It's kinda sad. More to the point, I can't believe that we haven't been interrupted by a monster yet."

"Monster bad," Duo agreed, going back to the screen where, as the blue G-Force ranger, he was fighting Chimzor. "Chimzor especially."

"Well, with that amount of eloquence," the yellow ranger commented. "No wonder you've got this far in life."

* * *

"So, I think it's finally time that we had that talk."

Looking over, first to Katie, then to Lance, Paige shrugged her shoulders in bemusement. Ignoring the way Bill was scratching his chin while looking at her.

"What about?" she asked, innocently. "What do you...?"

"There's something going on with this," Bill said, quickly. "We don't see you for three, four days and then you appear with everything rosy. Nothing's wrong at all, apart from you still being a ghost. So, what happened?"

"Honestly, I don't remember," Paige replied. "One minute I'm here, on the bridge against the angel, and the next I'm back on the bridge and you and Lance are shooting astonished looks at me."

"Only because you appeared out of nowhere," Lance replied. "Next time one of us appears out of nowhere, you can give us strange looks."

"Well, I'll hold you to that," the ghost said, as Katie got up and started to move towards the exit. "Where are you going?"

"Heading over to Holimar City," the red ranger replied. "Going to see someone that Nahir recommended about that cryptic clue that we heard."

"Dark times hide the true nature of an eclipse," Bill said. "Well, it is pretty cryptic. Mean anything to you, Paige?"

"Not really," the ghost replied. "Should it?"

"Go on, then," Lance said. "I'm interested now. Who did Nahir recommend?"

"Some cohombra named Elzar who is going to be at the market in Holimar City," Katie replied. "Seems like a..."

"Wait a second..." Bill interrupted. "Want to enlighten us to what a cohombra is?"

"Strange, possibly exotic mysterious person who you need to talk to about a context sensitive life or death situation," she said. "'Kay?"

"Why are you going alone, and not taking anyone else?" Lance wondered. "I mean..."

"Yeah, she told me to go alone. Apparently he prefers that."

* * *

"How are the sales going?"

"Three weeks out, straight to number one, over a hundred thousand copies sold in this region alone," Mitchell replied, looking at the sheet in front of him. "You know what, making a Poké Rangers video game was far and away one of the best ideas we ever had."

"Not that there was much competition," Noland muttered, grumpily. "Both to our previous ideas and everything else released in the last few weeks."

"Is everything going to plan?" Mitchell asked. "I mean... Nothing so far. Why hasn't anything happened so far?"

"Because we haven't activated it yet," Noland replied, folding his arms. "Mitchell, look at it this way. If our plan was put into action straight away, then it wouldn't have time to reach the masses. It would prematurely activate, resulting in less widespread damage and destruction than will be achieved right now."

"Right now?" Mitchell wondered. "We're activating it right now?"  
"Yeah," the former Frontier Brain replied. "What about it? Not worried, are you?"

"Do I sound worried?"

"Incredibly," Noland said, clicking the button on his mouse. "Anyway... here comes the Hypnotoed."

"The Hypnotoed?" Mitchell asked, looking at the screen flash in front of the two of them. "Isn't that kinda... From something else?"

"Yeah, sure, why not," Noland said, as a figure appeared out of the light on the screen, winking at them. A yellow skinned Politoed with the head and pendulum of a Hypno staring at them, the two Coppingers both instantly felt relaxed by his gaze.

"Greetings to you both," he said, in a deep soothing voice. "You created me on the assumption that you want me to put into affect Master Plan Alpha Beta Four Three Eight?"

"Why do you give these plans such complicated names?" Mitchell asked. "It seems... a little strange."

"Do I question what your plans are?" Noland demanded. "Because..."

"Anyway, I'll go to get at it right away," Hypnotoed said, rolling his eyes. "Since you two seem to have some issues that you need to..."

"Yeah, go do it," Mitchell replied, before looking back to Noland. "Come on! You think of every single plan around here and no offence, but we haven't had a win yet."

* * *

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Katie said, looking over to the tent in front of her. "Mystic Elzar's Space of Face."

"She's good," a drifter sat next to the tent remarked, flashing a toothless grin at her. Raising a bottle of Black Persian Beer to toast the red ranger. "She helped me get my life back on track."

"Yeah..." Katie replied. "I'm just here for some brief advice."

"That's good too," the drifter continued, looking back at his bottle of beer. "Any advice that you give to me, Persian, is good enough for me."

Shaking her head, the red ranger continued on through the entrance to the tent. Realising how much larger it suddenly seemed on the inside than had been outside. A portable table in the middle, the interior of the tent red velvet, she quickly realised that it was empty.

"Okay, Elzar," she said, taking a step inside. "Where are..."

Before she was able to finish her sentence, something grabbed her from behind. An extremely large hand cutting across her face, another yanking her arm up behind her back. Not hesitating, she activated her ability as a matter of self defense, super heating her skin up to the max it would go. Her attacker screaming out in pain, the red ranger spinning around to plant a kick into his stomach. Throwing him back against the side of the tent, the structure shaking away under his weight, she quickly grabbed him by the throat.

"What's your game, pal?" she demanded. "What are you playing at?"

"I saw that coming," he replied, smiling at her. Despite the discomfort from his blistered palms. "I am Mystic Elzar. Greetings."

As she looked him up and down, she saw that he was wearing black robes and a red fez. He had silvery white hair and a goatee.

"Why are you attacking me?" the red ranger demanded. "Because..."

"To see if you are who I believe you to be," he replied, cryptically. "I know who you are, what you are and why you're here. They told me that. And what I need to help you. They told me not to worry about your safety, that you would be able to defend yourself. Without mercy, I believe the phrase was."

"Yeah, see I don't actually believe you," the red ranger said. "Thing about being attacked, it makes me question the sanity of..."

"Dark times hide the true nature of an eclipse," Mystic Elzar replied, smirking at the expression that passed across her face. "All I'm going to say is that the answer is among you. Among your group. The answers are there. Sorry about the sudden surprise, but..."

"Is that everything?" Katie asked. "Nothing more about who? Or what?"

"Sorry, you'll have to figure it out yourself," he replied. "I got nothing on who. At all. I don't even know who you are, other than the thing about you being a former champion of Verger. And that's because I read the sport pages. I was just saying that to be mysterious."

"Yeah, now I just regret trusting you even more."

"But, my advice is valid," he replied, before a large crashing sound erupted from outside the tent. Katie immediately turning to check out what the cause was.

"Is it me?" she asked, seeing the sights of the market outside the tent. "Or, are those teenagers rioting? Smashing into a few stalls, general looting."

Leaning out behind her, Elzar shrugged.

"It's not you," he replied. "Strange. Almost text book small scale rioting."

* * *

"So, a couple of people decided to riot while I was in the city," Katie said, walking out onto the bridge of the Silver Gyarados. "Which, is unusual to say the least."

"That is unusual," Bill commented, from over by the computer. "Only a few doing it and not the masses. What can we say?"

"Is it still technically a riot if there's only a few people doing it?" Luke wondered. "Isn't it more of a public disturbance otherwise?"

"But, anyway," the red ranger said. "After Mystic Elzar attacked me..."

"Sorry about that," Nahir replied, blushing slightly. "I honestly didn't know that would happen. He's a friend of my brothers, so..."

"Thankfully, I survived," Katie said, a tad sarcastically. "But, he said to answer the thing about the clue, the answer was among us. Somewhere in this group of people."

"Hmmm..." Paige replied, thoughtfully. "What can you do?"

"Just... Are those guys still playing the Poké Rangers video game?" Katie asked. "For the love of Arceus."

"It's apparently addictive," Bill replied. "I should know. I once got addicted the online version of Dungeons and Dragonites."

"Don't look at me," Luke said. "I played a lot of video games while at school. Got it out of my system. For want of a better term."

Shaking his head at the memory, he turned his attention back to the screen. Before letting out a combined gasp and groan.

"Well, this can't be good."

"What, what is it?" Luke asked, looking over to the PokéManiac. "When you say that it can't be good, it rarely is."

"Think we better take this to the guys in there," he replied. "They might want to see this. Or not. Depending on how you look at it."

* * *

"Come on! Come on! Come on!" Ryan shouted, hammering away at the controls. "Use the Emperor Vortex, you bastard thing! Come on, jeez! Stupid dumb woman inside that costume."  
"Hey!" Katie protested, as they walked in. "I resent that slur on the virtual version of my old costume. Take it that you're playing as me."

"Anyway, guys," Bill said, folding his arms as he looked across at them. "Think that there's something you should know. There were riots in Holimar City earlier today."

"Well, it happens," Xavier replied, barely acknowledging the comment. "City life and all that. It can be stressful. High cost of living and... GO ON, KILL THAT THING!"

"This wasn't an ordinary riot," Bill said. "Not even close."

"It was more a public disturbance," Luke offered, helpfully. "Group of angst ridden teenagers intent on smashing up a market place."

"So?" Duo wondered. "What does this have to do with us? If anything?"

"Funny that it all happened after all of them played the video game," Lance commented, looking over to where the three rangers were still playing the game in question. "Now, how about that?"

"It's probably unrelated," Ryan said, not really listening. "Cool, I unlocked the orange SDI ranger. How about that! Now, I can have some awesome Legendary Sabre action on whatever takes my fancy."

"It's really really tenuous," Xavier pointed out. "I mean... Would you believe that if someone told you it? And, that's one awesome weapon."

"You're only saying that because you want to keep on playing," Bill remarked. "Yeah, you're that shallow."

"Damn straight, we want to keep on playing," Duo replied. "I just got my ass kicked by the black G-Force ranger and I want to keep playing."

"Heh," Xavier laughed. "Karma. Awesome!"

"That's not karma," Duo argued. "Why would that be karma?"

"Apart from the obvious?" Nahir asked. "Come on, guys. Time to go out of here and get some air. Turn the game off, and..."

"But, if we go out and get some air, we won't be playing the game," Xavier replied, glancing back at the screen. "Ryan, will you stop watching the replay and..."

"Oh for crap's sake," Nahir said, walking over to yank the controller out of the green ranger's hand. Accidentally hitting pause as she did so. "You guys have..."

"Woah!" Xavier yelled, jumping back off the couch. Reacting to something on the screen. "What the hell is that?"

"What?" Luke asked, walking over to see what everyone currently looking at the TV saw. A giant Hypno-Politoed combo on the screen, its pendulum paused in mid swing. The whole thing eerily disconcerting. "Wait, that's just disturbing."

"Is that a new boss to fight?" Ryan wondered. "Or..."

"Riots, you say?" Duo asked. "Anyone want to take a bet that this thing is bringing out the inner urge to riot?"

"Or, it might just be impulsiveness," Bill offered. "Come to think of it, I did see some more strange reports on the Internet. People going out and catching Pokémon in bulk, theft, murder, some various other stuff. People are acting irrationally."

"Good thing I'm not affected by it," Duo replied, starting to juggle Cheri Berries. "Yep, I'm just as normal as..."

Not hesitating, he caught all four of them in his mouth, before swallowing them whole.

"... Ever."

"Well, aren't you the well balanced one," Katie commented. "I'm surprised you're not out hitting on as many girls as you can after playing that game for..."

"Hey, what's the point in running out, getting painfully rejected and then coming back here to play video games?" the black ranger replied. "When I could just split the rejection part and beat these two mumbojacks at..."

"What's with all the new names today?" Lance wondered. "It's getting confusing. Really really confusing."

"Either way, this is a problem," Bill said. "How do we get rid of the Polino?"

"I think Hypnotoed sounds better," Ryan commented. "Come on, Bill. There's got to be some way that you can get rid of it."

"I'll get right on it," the PokéManiac replied, wearily. "Man oh man. No rest for the wicked. And, unfortunately, us."

* * *

"So, using my less than intimate knowledge of the Xbox 360," Bill said, looking across at the machine in front of him. "I've managed to formulate an insanely brilliant plan. Basically, it seems whenever you reach a certain point in the game, the thing appears to you... In this case, it seems to be when you unlock the orange ranger, and uses subliminal messaging to make you more impulsive. You then go to do whatever you do, be it riot, murder, steal..."

"I think it honestly says a lot about humanity that that's what we do when we get impulsive," Nahir commented, sarcastically. "What's wrong with everyone? Jeez."

"These are the only ones we're hearing about," Lance pointed out. "Because they're the bad things. Internet rumours and the media in general..."

"Bastards that they may be," Luke butted in.

"... Don't tend to focus on the good things, so if there's a guy going around and indulging in his passion for yanking Skitty's out of trees, then we're not likely to hear about it."

"Anyway," Bill said. "Go somewhere else, not here and insert this into an Xbox. It'll automatically simulate your progress into reaching that point where the Hypnotoed tries to put the whammy on you. Then, it'll purge it from the system, bringing it out into our world where you can kill the thing dead."

"That sounds like a great plan," Katie remarked. "I mean... It's our best chance. Short of going into the game itself, which is nigh on impossible."

"Stranger things have happened," Duo commented. "But, not this time. Anyway, is that everything?"

"Actually, no," Katie said. "Listen, guys. You know the cryptic clue that we got a couple of days ago?"

"Yeah, the one about the eclipse?" Ryan asked. "What about it?"

"Does that mean anything to you? Because I saw a fortune teller and he told me that the answer was among this group. I'm just wondering if you know anything."

"Dark times hide the true nature of an eclipse," Xavier replied. "Honestly, it means nothing. It's just a lot of cryptic crap on top of more cryptic crap."

"Just... run it through your heads," Katie said. "I nearly got assaulted by that fortune teller for that, so..."

"You okay?" Duo asked, instantly. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"Oh, he came off worse," she replied, smiling slightly. "Put it this way, I don't think they'll be able to identify him by finger prints any time soon. Burnt right off when he grabbed me."

"Isn't that a cheerful story," Luke said, sarcastically. "Anyway, lets' go and do what we need to do."

As one, the six of them brought their morphers up. Ready to activate the items.

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

"Judging by reports," Mitchell reported. "The chaos is starting to arise. Our little in game virus is really doing the trick."

"Excellent," Noland said, rubbing his hands together. "Everything is going to plan."

Even as he finished speaking, the alarms in their hideout began to ring out. The two Coppingers looking at each other, seconds before a thunderous banging started to ring out on the shutters of the abandoned warehouse.

"Uh oh!" the former Frontier Brain muttered, taking a step back. "We've been found again."

"Again?" Mitchell complained. "Jeez, what are we doing wrong here? Nobody else gets found, this is the second time."

The two of them steeling themselves, ready to face whatever came through the door, they were finally answered by the sight of the six Cobra Rangers pushing their way through the damaged shutters.

"Greetings, morons!" Cobra Black said, the six of them lining up. "You really should try and hide yourselves better."

"How did you find us?" Noland demanded. "Get out, now!"

"Followed your pet there," Cobra Yellow snickered, gesturing at Mitchell. "Heard that you've put a plan into motion to trash the region."

"Why, do you freaks want a piece of the action?" Mitchell retorted, still bristling at the pet comment. "Sorry, we don't work with assholes like you."

"Oh, we're the freaks?" Cobra Purple replied. "Looked in the mirror lately?"

"We need your power!" Cobra Blue said, looking at the two Coppingers. "Give us it! Now!"

"Sorry, I'm currently using mine," Noland replied, casually. "Tell you what, you can have Mitchell's, and..."

"Hey!" his companion shouted, rounding on him. "You complete ungrateful..."

Without hesitating, Noland reached out and grabbed his arm, before punching a button on the contraption on his wrist. The two of them instantly teleporting out of the room, leaving the Cobras alone.

"Cowards," Cobra Red muttered, pausing to throw a side kick at a crate. The item instantly crashing into pieces under his strike. "They'll regret this soon."

* * *

"Okay then," Katie said, placing the flash drive into the Xbox. "Let's get this sucker out of the games and into plain view where we can blast the crap out of it."

"You sure that this won't damage the game at all?" Ryan wondered. "Because..."

"If we don't do this, half the populated region might turn violent and attack each other," Nahir replied, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Isn't that worth the risk."

"She's right," Xavier replied, nodding at the green ranger. "This is something that we have to do. It's our only option."

"Let's do it, then," Duo said, watching Katie switch the Xbox on. The logo flashing up on screen, everyone watching in anticipation.

"Anyway, in the future, there's no need to sound so surprised," Nahir commented, looking over at Xavier. "I usually am. You should know that by now."

"Heh," Luke laughed, smirking at the blue ranger. "She's got a point. It's a waste of time arguing with her. I know that from experience. Not unless you have chloroform."

"Hey!"

As the six of them continued to watch the TV in front of them, it began to flash rapidly. Static erupting out of the speakers, the sudden interspaced flashes of Hypnotoed appearing on the screen.

"Guess that we're getting to it!" Xavier commented. Seconds before both the TV and the Xbox exploded, the instant urge to protect their faces rising in the rangers. Despite the protection offered by their helmets.

"You think that did it?"

* * *

Appearing out of thin air, Hypnotoed hit the ground in the middle of Holimar City. Groaning as he got up to his feet, the monster rubbed his head in discomfort.

"That... Was unexpected," he mused. "What just happened?"

"Hey, asshole!"

Looking around to the challenge, he saw the six rangers running towards him. All of them with their weapons out.

"Ah, you're the ones who did this to me," he said, briskly. "Now, I can really extend my will out to..."

Not bothering to listen to him any more, Katie brought up one of her Heat Blasters, shooting him in the face. The blistering burns causing the monster to roar in pain, his hand coming up to throw a Dogbot capsule into the air. The black robotic foot soldiers appearing on the ground in front of him, blocking Hypnotoed off from the rangers.

"Get them!" he roared, directing them off towards the rangers. "Now!"

"Oh come on!" Ryan yelled, jumping up to kick one of the robots back away from him. Before hitting out at another with his Fauna Hammer, swiping it up into the air before crunching it into the ground. Across from him, Xavier thrust out with the Tidal Trident, impaling a Dogbot on its prongs to yank it up off the ground. Spinning, he hurled it out towards two more, the collective trio going down. Hard. As the weapon began to glow with a bright blue light, Xavier spun around and struck two more with the full force of the water type weapon.

"Waterfall!"

Watching them fly back, Xavier saw Luke slashing away with his Psycho Spear. The weapon dealing alternate light and heavy gouges into the less than durable bodies of the Dogbots around him. Near to the purple ranger, Nahir was sweeping her Storm Staff out in graceful motions, the Dogbots unable to defend against the attacks from the yellow ranger. Using the weapon to propel herself up off the ground, she grabbed a Dogbot's head between her ankles and twisted it straight off. Meanwhile, Duo was easily cutting through the swathes of robots around him, his Shadow Sabre easily slashing away through their bodies. Taking a deep breath, he hacked the final one surrounding him into three different pieces, before looking over to where Katie was striding through the group of robots. Her blasters up, moving to destroy anything she saw in a blaze of flaming fury, she made a fearsome sight.

Something that hadn't apparently escaped the notice of Hypnotoed, as the six of them regrouped to aim their weapons at him.

"You're going down, Hypnotoed!" Katie shouted, combining her two weapons together. "Flareon Battle Rifle!"

"Seconded!" Duo exclaimed, as he and the other four rangers began to combine their own weapons. Creating the Pentasis Blaster. "Any last words?"

"You can't stop me," Hypnotoed replied, sagely. "It is an impossible task."

"That's what they all say," Duo said, levelling the weapon at the monster. "Pentasis Blaster! Fire!"

"Flareon Fury!" Katie yelled, pulling the trigger of her own weapon. The twin bursts of energy erupting out from the barrels of the weapons, streaking through the air towards Hypnotoed. And as the two blasts hit him, he was instantly destroyed, his remains hitting the sidewalk.

"Alright, we did it!" Xavier yelled.

* * *

Appearing atop a building above the action, Noland and Mitchell first looked at each other, before down to the remains of Hypnotoed.

"How'd he end up there?" Mitchell wondered. "Thanks for the rescue by the way."

"You do have your uses," Noland replied. "I'm not about to let anything happen to you. I just needed that split second of a distraction."

"You could have informed me beforehand," Mitchell said, angrily, before turning his attention back to the remains of their monster. "What are we going to do about him?"

"Give him a little boost," Noland replied, glancing to the device on his wrist. Before pushing a button.

* * *

Instantly responding to the command, the remains of Hypnotoed began to react. Fusing back together, the monster got to his feet before growing to a giant size. The huge pendulum in his hand sweeping through the air with a sound that closely resembled a jet engine.

"This one is right back," he said, softly.

"Since there's no obvious candidate," Xavier yelled. "Time to transform!"

Without hesitating, the six of them also grew, transforming into their Eevee forms. Hypnotoed watching with interest as they did so, his eyes blank with passiveness.

"Overload Zords! Megazord formation!"

Under the command, the six Zords turned into their robot forms and began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbs and tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. As the Megazord stood up straight, it stretched out its arms.

"That does not intimidate me in the slightest," Hypnotoed replied, starting to swing his pendulum at the giant robot. "Away with you."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen," Katie said, punching a button in front of her. "Protect!"

Right on cue, the shields rose up to block the sleep inducing waves of psychic type energy. The attack crashing against the blocking wall of energy.

"Psycho Punch!" Luke shouted, hitting the button on his controls. The Megazord bringing its fist up, smashing the powerful blow of psychic energy into Politoed's face. The monster barely fazed by the attack, easily shaking the effects of the attack off.

"Oh come on!" he said, the slightest trace of anger within his normally calm voice. "You really think that..."

His own arm shot up, punching the Megazord. The shock waves ripping out through the body of the machine, the hard scales bringing sparks up off the surface of the robot's upper body.

"Think there's one way to deal with this," Duo remarked, hitting a button of his own. "Genesis Blaster!"

At his command, the giant machine brought the weapon out of the compartment inside its Vaporeon leg. Levelling it at Hypnotoed, the monster narrowing his eyes in anger.

"Suck on this!" the black ranger yelled, ignoring the dirty look he was getting. "Dark Pulse!"

Right on cue, the blast of black energy came cannoning out of the weapon, raking against and across the body of Hypnotoed. Leaving several darkened burns on the skin, the monster roared in pain as he saw them appear.

"Time to finish this thing off," Nahir said. "Let's do it!"

"Genesis Staff!" Katie ordered, making to summon the weapon. The six of them instantly seeing the oversized bladed weapon appear in the hands of the Megazord. "Element Overload!"

Instantly reacting to the command, the Megazord brought the weapon up into the air, the blade at the end glowing with a white energy. As Hypnotoed watched with fear, the blade came raking across his body six times, each cut glowing with red, black, blue, green, yellow and purple energy before forcing him back. Unable to believe what had happened, the monster staggered away, before falling onto his back and exploding into thousands of pieces. His remains burning merrily in the middle of Holimar City, the Megazord lowering its weapon.

"There goes another one," Ryan commented. "Say what you like about all these different factions, but at least they blow up the same way."

* * *

"So, we managed to solve our problem of video game addiction," Duo said, the six of them walking back out onto the bridge of the Silver Gyarados. "How awesome is that. I say that we go to celebrate by playing some more Poké Rangers..."

"I'd be up for that," Xavier remarked. "I mean... Seeing the universe balance itself out by you constantly getting your ass kicked by the black G-Force ranger. And the yellow SDI ranger."

"That was only a fluke," the black ranger protested. "I mean... Come on. How long can that keep going on?"

"Never mind that," Paige said, looking over to everyone. "I figured it out. What it all meant."

"What all of what meant?" Luke asked. "What do you...?"

"Dark times hide the true nature of an eclipse, and the answer is among you," the ghost replied. "It's something I've heard of before. And to a lesser extent, I think Duo might have."

All eyes turned to the black ranger, who instantly shrugged.

"Means nothing to me," he said. "You'll have to..."

"Does the name of the Eclipse Stone mean anything to you?"

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Yeah... Anyone remember that?**

**Blast from the past there, with the Eclipse Stone. It being an item from G-Force, but the story of it will be gone into in the next chapter.**

**Compared to comments in this point last chapter, the introduction of the new ranger will be a bit later than advertised. Because of a change in schedule, I swapped a pair of two parters around. So instead of that after the next chapter, we have a special guest appearance from a ranger from another region. But who...**

**Ah, next one is entitled Dark Side Of The Moon. Preview below, up soon, etc etc.**

**The latest incarnation of a Poké Rangers video game... There's been a lot of them over the years.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Seriously, don't forget to review. Mitchell is replying to reviews for this chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter Eighteen, Dark Side Of The Moon, preview.**

**Duo: The what?**

**Paige: I smashed it up over a year ago.**

**Xavier: Well, if it's broken...**

**Dorlinda: It can be fixed.**

**Paige: They followed us here.**

**Duo: Give it back, Jake!**

**Jake: Finders keepers.**

**Katie: Can't win them all. Unfortunately.**

* * *

**Coming soon.**


	18. Dark Side Of The Moon

Chapter Eighteen. Dark Side Of The Moon.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_After Ryan's birthday, he, Xavier and Duo spent the next three days playing the Poké Rangers video game. All while Paige recounted what had happened when she had vanished. Meanwhile, Katie visited a fortune teller who told her that the answer to her question was among her friends. While leaving, she saw some people having a mini-riot. Telling Lance and Bill, they soon guessed that the video game was behind it as part of Noland's plot. Managing to snap the three rangers out of it, they managed to get the Hypnotoed out of the game and into the real world where they could defeat him. Before Paige realised what it all meant..._

* * *

"The what?"

The question from the black ranger vocalising what everyone was thinking as they looked across to the ghost. Paige immediately rolling her eyes.

"Oh come on, don't tell me that you don't remember," she said. "The Eclipse Stone... You remember Dark Chimzor, right?"

"How can I forget him?" Duo asked, folding his arms. "Damn thing nearly killed the crap out of me. And Crane. And Mitzi. And Chip. Oh, and Scott. I mean, I hated Chimzor and Darkia when they were two separate entities, but when they were combined... Man, they were tough."

"Well, the Eclipse Stone was what they used to fuse," Paige replied. "I smashed it up over a year ago. It's probably still where I left it. So, you remember everything about that moment apart from what caused it."

"Apparently so," he said. "So, there was a Genesis artefact that powered a foe we had a round of tango with when in G-Force. Go figure. That explains why the thing was stronger than us."

"Until, I broke it and broke the spell," Paige replied, triumphantly. "Oh yeah."

"Well, if it's broken..." Xavier began to say. "Then what use is it to us?"

"It can be fixed. Anything that is broken can be fixed, provided you don't mind those inevitable cracks."

Jumping slightly at the sudden voice, the nine of them turned. Seeing Dorlinda leaning against the frame of the door, a smile on his face.

"And on that bombshell..." Luke commented. "Our erstwhile yet sometimes helpful friend arrives just when we need him. Was it some cosmic force or message from the future that brought you here?"

"Don't try to be clever," he replied. "I got a call from Paige."

"Oh."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"What do you know about it?" Lance asked, glancing at the Lord of Time. "This... Eclipse Stone. What can you tell us?"

"And for that matter, did you know what it was way back then?" Katie wondered. "Because..."

"Honestly, I suspected that its power was something... Else. Something important. But, since I only found out about the Genesis Book and its artefacts best part of a month and a half ago, I wasn't likely to know that, was I?" Dorlinda replied, sardonically. "So, just think about it."

"Hey, calm it down," the red ranger said. "No need for that."

"Well, I've been up all night. It's making me cranky."

"Only because you don't sleep," Nahir commented. "Other than that hibernation thing."

"Okay, there's no need for this to carry on," Bill interrupted. "Dorlinda, can you help us find the pieces of the Eclipse Stone, so that we can get a step closer to the inevitable goal of completing our task and..."

"Well, of course," Dorlinda replied, folding his arms, loftily. "I can easily find it. But, you'll have to go and get it yourselves. I'm pretty busy enjoying an auction of rare items in the twenty eighth century, I've got my eye on what is either a doomsday device or a toaster. I've got half an hour before it comes up and..."

"How do you propose that we find it?" Ryan asked. "I mean... I've seen those tunnels under Verger. They're a real maze. And some of them are dark as well."

"Finding it's the easy part," the Lord of Time replied. "Whenever a G-Force Patroller was used, the data of its journey is transferred to a central bank of memory data within the Time Hole for future reference."

"Right..." Luke said. "So..."

"When Paige went to destroy the thing, I have the details of the journey she took to get there," Dorlinda explained. "I can upload that into another Patroller and..."

"Well, guess I'm going then," Duo said, standing up straight. "Since presumably mine is still in storage."

"Indeed it is," the Lord of Time replied. "Come on over to the Time Hole and I'll get it loaded up for you."

"This is the time I really hate being a ghost," Paige muttered, sadly. "Given that I found the thing, worked it out, etc..."

"Which reminds me," Dorlinda said, reaching into his coat and tossing an item over. "Picked this up at a yard sale in the thirty fourth century. Spectral lock."

"You want to explain what exactly that is?" the ghost asked. "Because..."

"Means that you're not anchored to this place," Dorlinda explained. "Just attach it to a Hover Chaser or a G-Force Patroller and you don't have to hold on and there's no danger of falling off."

"Really, is there mass demand for those in the future?"

"Not really. They only made about eighty of them. They're collectors items now."

"So, looks like I'm going along for the ride?" Paige asked. "Sweet."

"If you two are going underground, we'll stay here just in case the Coppingers throw an attack," Katie said. "Good luck, guys."

"Think we might need it," Duo muttered, as the three of them vanished away in streaks of blue, pink and white light.

"Well, it's not often we get a day off," Luke said, stretching out. "How best to use it."

"Every day that we don't fight overgrown monsters is a day off," Nahir told him. "What the heck's wrong with you?"

"There's so many ways to answer that question," Xavier muttered. "And so little time."

* * *

"So, this how you spend your days now?" Duo asked, as he and Paige followed Dorlinda towards the second room inside the Time Hole. "Accumulating crap from morally dubious sources?"

"I wouldn't call it crap," the Lord of Time replied. "You never know when it's going to come in useful. Like that Spectral lock."

"Is it really a lot of crap?" Paige wondered. "I mean... you've got my hopes up now. Actually, quick question. How can I teleport when I can't even morph while in ghost form? Believe me, I've tried."

"Different constitution of power levels mean that the result of being non corporeal and instant teleportation is a task that requires less of a physical embodiment than instantaneous transforming into an alternate form."

"Was that really necessary?" Duo wondered, spotting his old vehicle across the Zord bay. Parked along with the five others, in an offshoot away from the movement path of the G-Force Zords. "I mean... Come on, she's only asking the question."

"Either way, I kinda have a place to be," Dorlinda replied, tossing the spectral lock over to the back of the blue G-Force Patroller. "So, hurrying up would be nice."

"Man, you used to be a lot more friendly," Paige commented, walking over to the vehicle and getting on the back. "What happened?"

Choosing to not reply, Dorlinda instead watched Duo get over onto the bike. Paige trying to get off, before realising that she couldn't. A surprised look on her face.

"That really does work," she said. "How about that. How do I get off?"

"Oh yeah, that's a point," the Lord of Time replied. "You need to do it with a voice command. I already set it in, the word is Forsythia."

"Ah, your dead ex," Paige said, scathingly. "How touching. So, when I want to get off, I just say that and I fall flat on my..."

"Anyway, let's get going," Duo replied, rubbing his hands together. "Because that stone isn't going to find itself."

* * *

"Ah, memories," Paige said, on the back of the motorcycle as it landed across from the entrance to the tunnels. "It seems like only last week I was tearing down here and..."

"It wasn't," Duo reminded her. "You had a body way back then. And weren't locked to a glorified futuristic motorcycle via a piece of futuristic technology."

"You have to keep rubbing it in, don't you?" the ghost commented, as he gunned the engines, starting to accelerate down into the tunnels. Focused more on keeping the Patroller steady, rather than directing it, the loaded instructions from Dorlinda driving it on.

"Hey, at least you're not still stuck on the Silver Gyarados. Be grateful for that."

On that, the two of them stuck out in silence for the next several minutes. The only sound being the tremendous roar of the engines, the darkness around them adding to their mood.

"I think we're nearly here," Paige finally said, the outline of a chamber within the darkness barely visible up ahead. The closer they got, the more of it coming into view.

"Brilliant," the black ranger replied, bringing his vehicle to a screeching halt inside the chamber. Even as it came to a halt, Paige already spoke.

"Forsythia."

Looking down to the spectral lock, the ghost let out a small sound of appreciation as she got off the Patroller. Running her eyes around the area, she couldn't help but feel the sense of trepidation at the sights. Something that Duo seemed to pick up on.

"You okay?" he asked, getting off his Patroller. Paige looking around the area with a strange fascination. "You seem..."

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, slowly. "Just... Bad memories..."

_Throwing herself out of the way, wincing as the pain shot up her shoulder, Paige brought her one remaining dagger back up to bear and raked it across through the air to cut into the Eclipse Embodiment. It yelled in pain, Paige realising that it was crackling with electricity as he did so._

_"That hurt you?" she demanded, trying to blank the pain from her mind and reach for the other dagger._

_"Not as much as you'll be hurt when I pluck the flesh from your bones," he growled. "Wonder if that suit'll add flavour to your skin."_

_"Too bad you'll never find out," she replied, lunging for the weapon. Her fingers closed around the hilt of the dagger, only for Eclipse to charge and hit her with a Headbutt. The light from the daggers seemed to soothe the pain within her arm, letting her bring it up in defense. She could see the blade glow with a green light, the other still crackling with electricity._

_"First cut is the deepest," she quipped, slashing out with the weapons to create an X shape across his stomach. As he staggered back away from her, Paige charged past him to attack to go for the stone. Seeing it in front of her, she brought up her weapons and sent them smashing into the rock. It smashed under the blow, forcing a yell of pain from the Eclipse Embodiment._

_"Now, that's gotta hurt," she muttered, watching the monster collapse to the ground and explode._

"What did this rock look like?" Duo wondered, looking across to the ground. Searching for any signs of broken fragments of debris. "I mean..."

"I think it was black. Like some sort of onyx or something."

"Right," the black ranger replied, glancing down at the ground. "Well, let's have a..."

"I see one half," the ghost offered, bending down to pick it up. Tossing it over to Duo, she shot him a grin. "If the other half is this easy to find, then..."

"Is this it?"

The sudden voice of an new arrival jerking them both up into fighting stances, the ghost and the rangers seeing three new figures at the entrance to the chamber. One of them instantly recognisable as a lead figure of the Coppingers. Enough to force a glare across Duo's face.

"Not him," he muttered. "Anyone but him."

"They followed us here," Paige complained, the two of them looking across at Jake, Hawk and the monster in the middle of them. The monster being a pitch black coloured Slowking with a Sharpedo's face and flippers. "Uh oh."

"Think that you lost part of the artefact," Jake taunted, looking at the piece of black rock in his hand. "What a pity."

"Give it back, Jake!" Duo yelled, looking at his own fragment of Eclipse Stone. "It's no use to you like that."

"Finders keepers," the Coppinger retorted. "And by that logic, you should give me your piece."

"That's not going to happen, crap bag."

"Well, we're not going to solve this any time soon," Paige commented, rolling her eyes. "So, if we're going to cut to the chase..."

"Sharking," Jake said, coldly. "Get them."

Letting out a roar of anger, the monster hurled himself at the two figures. Duo reacting fastest to jump up and hit him with a flying kick, forcing him back.

"You can't make this easy, can you?" Hawk asked, as he and Jake began to head for the exit of the chamber cave. Sharking heading for Duo again, the black ranger ducking away to dodge the attack, they used the opportunity to make their escape.

"You want me to go after them?" Paige wondered, as Duo threw a punch at Sharking. Yelping in pain as his hand grazed against the rough skin, drawing blood. The scent enough to send the Sharpedo monster into a frenzy, Duo feeling himself get hurled back by the attack. As the creature advanced on him, it suddenly let out a yelp of pain, clutching at its head. Turning to see Paige stood behind him, holding a rock.

"How'd you like that?" she taunted. "Come on, hit me! If you can!"

Snarling angrily at her percieved insolence, Sharking opened up his mouth to let loose a powerful Hydro Pump attack. Paige's expression not changing as the attack passed straight through her, roaring down through the tunnel, hitting Jake and Hawk in the back. The blast throwing them forward, both of them shouting out in discomfort.

"Hey, you tricked me!" Sharking complained, making to charge towards her. "I'm going to make you scream! Words can't make me stop what I'm going to do to..."

"Actually, I might have two," Duo quipped, bringing his morpher up. "Genesis and Overload!"

Morphing into his ranger suit, he grabbed Sharking by the back and hurled him into a wall. The monster roaring angrily as he got back up and started to slash at the black ranger with his razor sharp flipper claws. Duo easily dodging them, before kicking back.

"This looks tense," Paige commented, watching the battle. "Oh right, I should be chasing those two."

Not looking back, she began to head down the exit tunnel towards the direction that Jake and Hawk had gone. Hearing Sharking let out a roar of pain, the sound following her through the darkness.

* * *

"Here's an interesting thing," Bill said, glancing down at the console in front of him. "There's a huge reading of Genesis energy towards the exit of the caves that Duo and Paige vanished into a while ago."

"You think they got it?" Katie asked, coming over. "The artefact."

"It's more of a evil reading," Bill explained, gesturing to the reading. "See, there are those black spikes in it, which means that it doesn't come from the same source as your power. It's a fractured signal which means it comes from the Genesis Book. Distantly."

"Coppingers," Luke said. "Terrific."

"They're like a rash," Nahir said. "Always coming back twice as... It's just occurred to me that Duo isn't here to make a joke about that."

"Think we better ranger up?" Xavier asked. "Intercept that energy before..."

"Okay, let's go get them," Katie said, the five of them bringing their morphers up.

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

"Gah, maybe that monster will rip that black ranger to pieces," Jake snarled, as the two dripping Coppingers staggered out of the tunnels. Having used another exit, they had found an easier way out than the way than getting in. Instead of the twenty minute previous trip through the labyrinth, they'd managed to make it out in five minutes. "We can hope."

"You really don't like him, huh?" Hawk asked.

"He ruined my plan of covering Eon City in darkness," Jake said. "So, that would..."

"Hey!"

Looking around at the shout, the two of them saw the five rangers stood above them. Glaring down at the Coppingers, their weapons out and ready to be used.

"Oh look at that," Hawk replied, sarcastically. "The five of them running in here ready to protect the region from us. How about that."  
"Where's Duo?" Katie demanded. "And Paige. What did you...?"

"Ah, those two," Jake said. "They're currently fighting for their lives. If they happen to be still alive. Which would be ironic."

"At least we got the stone from them," Hawk crowed, holding up the piece of black stone in front of the rangers. "Or half of it at least. What do you have to say about that?"

"Just this!"

The sudden shout ringing out from the cave entrance, the two Coppingers turned to greet the speaker. Duo's Shadow Sabre swinging down through Hawk's forearm, hacking it away. As the half of the stone hit the grass in front of him, Duo scooped it up and tossed it to Paige. The ghost taking it in her hands. Quickly moving away, as a badly bruised Sharking wandered out of the cave, a dazed look on his face as he did so.

"Man, what happened to him?" Ryan wondered, as he and the other rangers dropped down to hook back up with Duo and Paige. Sharking grouping back together with Jake and Hawk, the two groups glaring at each other.

"There's no point sticking around right now," Jake growled, shooting a glare at the wound on Hawk's arm. "We'll be back, rangers!"

Even as the threat left his mouth, the trio vanished away from the scene. Leaving the rangers alone.

"You two okay?" Xavier asked, looking at Duo and Paige. "Because..."

"We're fine," Paige replied. "Could do with getting back to the Silver Gyarados. Deciding what steps to take next."

* * *

"Looks a bit unimpressive," Bill commented, glancing down at the shards. "I mean... I was expecting something more."

"Well, at least we got it back," Duo said, glancing down at the two pieces of the Eclipse Stone in front of him. "Now, how can we fuse it back together?"

"Where the heck is Dorlinda when you need him?" Luke wondered. "And when he's not buying crap in the future?"

"He seem a little off to you?" Paige asked. "I mean... I've never seen him so snappy with anyone. He just seems so... annoyed with everything."

"Is it his Lord of Time time of the century?" Xavier asked. "Because, there is something about him."

"Anyway..." Bill said. "Let's not discuss our friend and his problems right now. How are we going to fuse this back together."

"Well, if you don't know, then we don't have a clue," Lance commented. "None of us are experts on fusing rare artefacts together."

"Do we know anyone who is?" Katie asked. "Because, it's not a common thing to be able to do."

"I might know a guy in Johto," Lance said. "But..."

"Is there anything a little closer to home?" Nahir wondered. "If we go tearing off to Johto, this region is left defenseless."

"She does have a point," Ryan said. "If only some of us show up there, the rest of us still have the problem of how to take it down."

"I might know somebody," Bill replied, taking a deep breath. "I could give Miranda a call. See if there's somebody she knows."

"That sounds like a plan," Katie said. "Go for it. If anything, then..."

"That's not going to help you."

For the second time that day, the nine of them turned to see Dorlinda leaning against the frame of the door to the exit.

"Where have you been?" Katie asked. "Because, your flitting in and out of the action is starting to..."

"You win your doomsday device?" Nahir wondered. "Because, we're just dying to know."

"Ah, I lost it to some guy wearing a cape and a pointed purple hat," he replied. "Ass. Anyway, there's a guy in Sycamore City who might be able to do the job for you. He's..."

"Dorlinda," Bill said. "Can't you just send us these messages rather than come over here in person? When you offer us advice like this, it's really really helpful."

"If I did that, you'd be asking me for it every time you were stuck," the Lord of Time replied. "And, this isn't my fight."

"Yeah, we've had that before," Xavier said. "You only help us when it's G-Force rangers trying to save your brother. Rest of the time, we may well as be damned."

"I'm helping you now, aren't I?" he asked. "Believe it or not, it is no longer my job to help you out every time you need it. You're doing a pretty good job of finding these artefacts yourselves. Now, I don't know much about them, I don't have the answers. Those days are long gone, every time we pass from hour to hour we're covering new ground. You're on new ground. So, a little more respect might be nice, Xavier. Especially since I didn't see you complaining when I got you a device that anchored a previous Zord of yours to this reality..."

"You're bringing that up?" Luke wondered. "Something that happened nearly a year ago?"

"Just pointing out that when you need me, I tend to be there. Not when you want me. But when you need me. Can you ask for more?"

"He does have a point," Nahir said. "He has helped us before. Like when Paige made the deal with the demon and he helped us track that thing down."

"Track down Chester Biel in Sycamore City," Dorlinda remarked, ignoring everything that had been said. "If anyone can help you..."

"Who is he?" Katie wondered, as the Lord of Time made to head for the exit.

"Now, that would be spoiling the surprise."

As he walked out of the door, the people present glanced at each other. None of them particularly pleased with what had gone on.

"Hate it when he does that," Duo groaned.

* * *

"This has to be it," Ryan said, the six rangers finding themselves outside a non-descript store in the middle of Sycamore City. "I mean... That phone book said that Chester Biel lives here."

"Anyone else wondering what to expect?" Nahir asked. "I mean... He comes recommended by Dorlinda, so..."

"You're expecting him to not be quite human?" Luke wondered. "I get where you're going. But, on the other hand, since he's recommended by Dorlinda..."

"He's got to be good at what he does," Xavier pointed out. "Otherwise, what would be the point?"

"Just remember to expect anything," Katie warned. "Last time I followed up on a tip like this, I had to burn someone who took me from behind."

As Duo began to snicker, the red ranger threw him a dark look before pushing the door open. All six of them taking a step inside. Letting out a collective gasp of surprise at what awaited them.

"Not what I expected," the black ranger commented, glancing around the area. Where the outside of the building had been rather low key and in tune with its surroundings, the interior was completely different. Snow white walls closing in on them, the room was about three times the size of the building normally, filled with at least ten glass cases. Each containing an assortment of rare and expensive looking items.

"In that case, I'm prone to assume that you weren't looking for this deliberately," a voice from across the room said. A blue haired man getting to his feet, a passive expression on his face as he came over to greet them. His grey eyes matching the colour of his suit, as he held out a hand. "Which forces me to ask the question as to what I can do for you."

"We're looking for Chester Biel," Duo offered. "We were told that we could find him here."

"Really?" the man asked. "By who, may I ask?"

"Guy named Dorlinda," Katie replied. "It's nothing bad. We just need some help with something."

"Which would be?"

"We have a rare item," Xavier said. "The Eclipse Stone. Because of a quest we're on, we need it fixing. And..."

"What he's trying to say," Luke replied, cutting across him. "If we did have something such as the Eclipse Stone, we're in the process of trying to find it. But, since it's broken, we were wondering at the best way to fix it."

"Hmmmm..." the man said. "Before we should go much further, I feel I should introduce myself as Chester Biel. And, the Eclipse Stone is... Well... I would very much be able to fix it. This is kind of my trade. I fix rare items here, sell them on. I'm an inter-dimensional jeweller. And I'm sure that we could work out a deal for the cost of such a procedure."

"Ah..." Ryan replied. "Well, it's not for sale. Like we said, it's needed for..."

"A quest, I remember," Chester answered. "But, when it is not being used on a quest, I couldn't help but make a tidy profit on the item. When you should find it, I'd be happy to fix it on the proviso that you give it to me after you're done with it."

"Assuming that it doesn't go up in smoke, that's something that we'd be happy to do," Katie replied, before looking around to the rest of the rangers. "Right, guys?"

"Sounds fair," Luke commented. "Just out of interest, what would such an item fetch on the 'inter-dimensional' market?"

"I'm not appreciating the sarcasm in your tone," Chester replied, looking at the purple ranger with disdain. "You doubt what it is that I can do?"

"Nope, the crazy thing is I believe you," Luke retorted. "There's been way too much crap going on lately to not believe you."

"You managed that fairly easily and tactfully," Nahir commented. "I'm amazed."

"Hey, tact is my middle name," Luke replied. "Anyway, what would it fetch?"

"Excuse me," Duo said, holding up the two halves of the Eclipse Stone. "That's not important. Can you fix them? Yes or no?"

At the sight of the artefact, Chester's eyes lit up. His mouth curling away at the side in glee.

"I believe that I already said that I could," he muttered, softly. "Now, if you'll just care to hand them over..."

"Give them to him, Duo," Katie ordered. "He seems on the level. Plus, if he's recommended by Dorlinda..."

"Yes, Dorlinda," Chester replied, uneasily. "How's the old guy been?"

"A little testy," Xavier said. "Scratch the surface and he's..."

"Guy owes me some money," the jeweller muttered. "Next time you see him, remind him that. Because..."

As Duo began to move towards him, he paused. A smirk quickly growing across his face as he reached out for it, wincing slightly as he straightened his crooked arm out.

Something that hadn't escaped Duo's notice. Closing his hands around the pieces of the Eclipse Stone, he shot Chester a smile.

"How'd you damage your arm?" he asked. "That's too much of a coincidence. See, earlier today, I had a bit of a tango with someone. Didn't end well for him, last I saw his arm was missing. Some of it, anyway. So..."

Growling in anger, Chester struck out with his good hand, hitting Duo in the stomach. Throwing the black ranger back through the air, the two pieces of black rock falling out of his grasp and hitting the ground. Letting out a laugh, Chester reached down to pluck one of them up. Making a move for the second, Nahir reacted faster. Speeding over to grab up the other piece, the six of them heard him let out another roar of anger as he transformed back into Hawk. The door at the back opening up, Jake and Sharking coming out. The monster holding a restrained Chester by his shirt collar.

"Got to hand it to you," Jake said, looking at the black ranger. "You notice things."

"Let Chester go," Katie warned. "And give that other piece of the rock back. It's no use to you."

"Heh, we're back where we were earlier," Sharking commented. "Standoff. What can we do about all of this?"

"This is a pretty bad situation," Ryan said. "This can't get any worse."

Right on cue, the door opened up behind them and the six Cobra Rangers burst into the room. Luke turning to Ryan, narrowing his eyes at the green ranger.

"You had to open your mouth, huh?" he asked. "In future..."

"There's not going to be a future unless you give us that artefact," Cobra Red snarled, putting his fist through one of the display cases. Sorting his way through the items, almost trying to feel his way through the contents.

"They're not in there, freak!" Hawk taunted, holding the piece of rock up to the light. "One's here. The other's with them. I can't speak for them, but I would say that the six of them aren't going to give it up without a fight."

Taking a step back, he kicked Sharking forward. Moving towards Jake, the two of them preparing instantly to teleport out of the room. Only for it to fail.

"What the...?" Jake asked. "How is that..."

"You can't teleport out of this room," Chester said, from the ground. "It's blocked. The only way out is through that door."

"So..." Nahir said, folding her arms. "Not so smug now, are you?"

"I don't know," Hawk replied. "Sharking, give them a blast!"

At the command, Sharking unleashed a Hydro Pump attack towards the group of twelve. The blast enough to force a way through them, the Cobra's taking the brunt of the strike, the rangers having thrown themselves to the side to evade it. Without hesitating, Jake and Hawk began to run the gauntlet through the crowd. Managing to make it all the way through, until Cobra Blue got up, grabbed Jake by the throat and slammed him against the wall. Cobra Yellow doing the same for Hawk.

"Give me the stone, or we will destroy you," Cobra Red snapped, turning to look at Sharking and the rangers. "All of you."

"Well, you're welcome to try," Katie said, the six of them bringing their morphers up. "Because..."

"Screw it, just morph!" Duo muttered. "Right now!"

"Genesis Overload!"

At the command, the six transformed into their suits. Taking up fighting stances against the enemies all around them.

"You two," Cobra Red ordered, looking back at where Cobra Yellow and Blue were holding Hawk and Jake. "Take them out of here, torture that artefact out of them and wipe them both out. Nobody else leaves."

"Katie..." Xavier said, as Sharking let out a sound of anger. Making for the group of them. "We have a problem."

"Ryan, you and Nahir go for Sharking," Katie replied, taking in the fact the monster was based on a water type. "You're best matched up against him. The rest of us go for the Cobras."

"Oh yippee," Luke muttered, as the group of rangers broke into two. Right away, Ryan and Nahir made a move towards Sharking, both of them bringing their weapons out. The yellow ranger sweeping out with her Storm Staff, the weapon hitting against the body of the rough skinned monster. Crackles of electricity running across his body, the monster shuddering at the attack. Even more as Ryan came in and bashed him with the Fauna Hammer. The blow hitting him square in the stomach, dealing grass type damage.

Across from them, Katie had gone for Cobra Red, making to kick him in the head. The evil ranger dodging the attack, tackling her against the wall. Not hesitating, she throw both legs up and forced him away. Bringing both Heat Blasters up, she fired several times into his body. The evil ranger not fazed at all by the attack.

"You'll have to do better than that," he taunted, grabbing her by the throat and throwing her back. "Because..."

Tucking into a roll, Katie managed to recover from the attack. Barely taking any damage. Glancing around her surroundings, she saw Xavier battling Cobra Green. And actually doing well, the blue ranger dealing blows to the green coloured evil ranger with his Tidal Trident. Growling with the frustration at not being able to attack, plus at not fighting Ryan, Cobra Green flung himself forward. Hitting Xavier with a headbutt, before kicking him in the side. Unwilling to let himself carry on with being hit, the blue ranger parried the next attack with the weapon before forcing the evil ranger back. Across from him, Duo and Luke were fighting Cobra's Black and Purple. Going at the monster with the Shadow Sabre and the Psycho Spear, they managed to attack in tandem. Letting out a roar, Cobra Purple hit Luke in the chest with a roundhouse kick, throwing him next to the door. Seeing it, Duo went out on a slashing rampage, throwing several sword strikes towards Cobra Black. The evil ranger grabbing the blade to stop the attack, before kicking his legs out from underneath him. As the black ranger hit the ground, he twisted and rolled. Trying to jump up and nail Cobra Black with a corkscrew attack. Not waiting for it to come, Cobra Black dodged and kicked him in middair. Across from the two of them, Luke got to his feet and yanked the door open. Just in time to see Cobra's Blue and Yellow come flying through, both of them groaning in pain.

"Don't mess with us again!" Jake warned. "Next time, we won't be so merciful."

Even as they got up, ready to attack again, Jake and Hawk vanished away into thin air. Leaving the two groups of rangers and Sharking alone.

"Thanks for that," the monster growled, taking up a fighting stance. "I'll take you all on."

"Not us," Cobra Red said, disdainfully. "We no longer have an interest in this. Half of the artefact is useless to us."

As the six evil rangers began to trail out of the room, the six regular rangers looked at each other in surprise.

"That's helpful," Duo replied. "About time that we got lucky. In a certain sense."

"There's still one matter to attend to," Ryan said, as he and Nahir came back to the group. "Pentasis Blaster, I think."

Even as he spoke, the five of them combined their weapons into the giant blaster. Katie combining her two Heat Blasters into the Flareon Battle Rifle.

"Any last words?" Duo asked, aiming the weapon at Sharking. Katie doing the same with her own weapon.

"You make that joke every single time," Luke commented. "For all our sakes, stop before it gets older than it already is."

"Pentasis Blaster!" Duo yelled. "Fire!"

"Flareon Fury!"

Even as the twin commands came out, the twin beams of energy came streaming out of the weapons, crashing against Sharking's body. Completely decimating him, the remains began to fall to the ground.

"Whew," Xaiver said. "Steady on though. If he grows in here, it's going to be..."

"If he does, we deal. If not, go help Chester," Katie ordered.

* * *

"Sharking has been destroyed," Hawk reported. "I would try to..."

"No point," Jake replied, shrugging his shoulders. "If we can't teleport out of there, I doubt my darkness rising command will get through to it. Face it, we got a win here."

Holding the piece of the Eclipse Stone up, he couldn't help but grin.

"More than the rest of those guys out there. Face it, we're awesome. Half an artefact."

"Still more out there," Hawk said. "We're not going to get them by sitting around on our asses."

"Screw that, I think we should celebrate."

* * *

"Thank you so much," the real Chester said, dusting himself off. "I was actually worried for a moment there."

"You were terrified," Luke commented, rolling his eyes. "I mean... anyone would be."

"I've seen worse," Chester replied. "So, what can I do for you?"

"Well, not a lot as it turns out right now," Duo answered. "We had the two halves of the Eclipse Stone, hoping that you could put them back together."

"The Eclipse Stone, you say?" Chester asked, an interested look on his face. "Well, of course I've heard of it. Its value is more symbolic than financial."

"Not that it matters," Nahir said. "They got away with half of it. We failed."

"Ah, that's a problem for you," Chester replied, sympathetically. "Anyway, I wish you the best of luck in getting it back. And when you do, I can put it back together for you."

"We'll be in touch," Xavier said. "And thanks."

"Hey, after you helped me out here, I'll be happy to put it together for you," Chester replied, gesturing to the door. "And next time you see Dorlinda..."

"You want us to remind him that he owes you money?" Ryan asked.

"Give him my regards."

* * *

"Hey, how's it going?" Katie asked, looking to the gym. Seeing Duo in the middle of a workout, the black ranger wearing a frustrated look on his face as he struck away at the heavy bag in the middle of the room. "Okay, you're still angry, I get that."

"I'm just so annoyed that they got away with half of the Eclipse Stone," Duo said, kicking the bag harder. "Man, I screwed up. I mean, I've sort of done it in the past, but this time it's really getting to me."

"We've still got two and half artefacts," Katie replied, managing a weak smile at him. "Which is one more than all the Coppingers and Cobras combined. That we know of. But, can't win them all. Unfortunately."

"Doesn't make defeat any less aggravating."

"No, it doesn't, I'll give you that."

"You're not going to come out with some speech about trying harder next time and not letting it happen again, are you?"

"Probably not."

"Thanks, I don't think I could have taken that clichéd crap."

"Good thing I didn't then."

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Okay so...**

**Quick note, they didn't go to Johto in this chapter. Even though it was mentioned. But, after several future chapters, they will go to Johto in the future of this story. For a crossover...**

**Anyway, the first loss... Well, it wouldn't work if they went through the fic winning every single time. Anyway, it was only a half loss.**

**Thanks for the reviews. All appreciated.**

**Next one is entitled Hunter And Hunted: Part One. Another two parter. Plus a special guest star. Preview below, possibly up soon. I'm thinking of taking a break. Thinking of, not definitely am.**

**And Chester Biel... Definitely be back at some point. **

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Jake is replying today. So...**

* * *

**Chapter Nineteen, Hunter And Hunted: Part One, preview.**

**Xavier: Bit for the community.**

**Bill: You guys gave blood?**

**Nahir: Why not?**

**Bill: They tracked the power in your blood and they can hit you any time.**

**Katie: They didn't get mine.**

**Lance: What are you going to do?**

**Katie: Think I might go undercover. But, I might need some help.**

**?: Long time no see.**

**Katie: Thanks for coming.**

* * *

**Coming soon...**


	19. Hunter And Hunted: Part One

Chapter Nineteen. Hunter And Hunted: Part One.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As Paige recounted the story of the Eclipse Stone, Dorlinda appeared on the Silver Gyarados to fill in as many blanks as possible. As he, Duo and Paige made their way to the Time Hole, they caught up before going for the Eclipse Stone. The two former G-Force rangers being attacked by Jake and Hawk, they managed to recover the stone. Back at the Silver Gyarados, Dorlinda sent them to visit Chester Biel, an inter-dimensional jeweller. As he commented on his ability to fix the stone, Duo realised that it was Hawk. As it went down, the Cobras came crashing in onto the scene, the resulting battle ending with Sharking being destroyed, while Jake and Hawk got away with half of the Eclipse Stone..._

* * *

"So..."

"So, what?"

"Think about it," Xavier said. "We're modern day super heroes. Nahir, you're like Supergirl, Ryan, you're like Robin..."

"What, I'm a side kick?" the green ranger asked. "Come on man, I can do better than that."

"I'm sort of like Colossus," the blue ranger continued, Duo groaning at the comment, before hitting him on the back. "Luke's Iron Man, because he's a wealthy jerk and Duo... Well, you're the creepy dude who turns invisible. You're Kevin Bacon in Hollow Man."

"So, I'm an invisible rapist?" the black ranger asked, rolling his eyes. "Terrific."

"I could see you in that role," Ryan commented. "I mean, if they were remaking that movie, you'd be awesome in that position."

"Are we all done insulting me yet?" Duo asked. "Because, this is annoying."

"Who's Katie then?" Luke wondered. "That's an interesting dilemma."

"She'd probably claim Wonder Woman," Ryan commented. "And Paige is ShadowCat."

"Well, if you're going on abilities, Nahir is Flash, Ryan is Poison Ivy, I'm still Colossus, Luke is Jean Grey and... I can't think of an invisible superhero. Off the top of the head. But Katie would be Pyro."

"Nah, Pyro can only control fire," Duo argued. "Not create it. And, are you forgetting Sue Storm?"

"And Ryan isn't a hotpant wearing eco-terrorist," Xavier pointed out. "So..."

"Well, not normally," the green ranger quipped. "But..."

"That's in pretty poor taste," Nahir commented. "Come on, you can do better than that. For a joke."

"Hey, he's got to compete with me and Luke for the joke telling abilities," Duo commented. "It's a tough job for anyone."

For a moment, there was silence. Until Luke spoke up again.

"Actually, I think I'm more like Green Arrow."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"So, what was the point of that discussion?" Nahir asked, folding her arms. "I mean... It was pointlessly droll, but... why?"

"Well, I saw that sign," the blue ranger replied, gesturing to the sign in question. The bright red words reading Blood Drive on it. "And I thought that it's time we did our bit for the community."

"Other than fighting giant monsters?" Duo asked, incredulously. "Come on."

"You want us to give blood?" Luke asked. "That's... My blood is pretty sacred. I mean... I don't want anyone trying to clone me from that plasma and stake a claim for the Sunderland family fortune."

"They'll probably not have that technology in two hundred years time," Ryan pointed out. "Never mind now. Have to ask Dorlinda if it's ever possible the next time I see him."

"I don't think that's something that you have to worry about, Luke," Ryan commented. "Well, I'd be okay with that. It could be good for someone."

"You're not scared of needles, are you?" Nahir wondered, glancing over to the purple ranger. "Because..."

"I'm not scared of needles," Luke instantly replied. "Really, I'm not. That'd just be irrational. Besides, I have a weapon that is essentially a giant needle?"

"How is a spear like a needle?" the yellow ranger shot back. "That's utter crap."

"They're a similar shape," Xavier pointed out. "To be fair."

"Let's do it," Duo replied. "I mean, since we're still waiting for Katie, we might as well pass the time somehow."

"That's probably the worst reason for ever giving blood," Nahir commented, sarcastically. "To pass the time."

"Yeah, but what are you going to do?"

* * *

"See, no fright of needles at all," Luke replied, as he came out of the trailer. Removing a tissue from the prick in his arm. "Oh, and just for the record, there was someone else in there. It wasn't me screaming."

"It was one of the nurses when Duo hit on her," Ryan quipped, as the black ranger came out, quickly following Luke. "She stuck the needle in a bit harder than normal."

"Now, that's not true at all," Duo replied, jumping the last step. "See, I was right. Just about time to go and meet up with our fearless leader."

"Something seem creepy about the nurses in that place to you?" Nahir asked, glancing around to where one was stood at the window watching them go. Complete with a long white gown, face mask and hat, only their eyes really visible. "They just..."

"Ah, anyone might freak you out with a giant needle," Luke commented, sarcastically. "Especially when it's twice the size of you."

* * *

"Well, I'm just surprised at you guys," Katie said, as the six of them came out onto the bridge of the Silver Gyarados. Seeing Lance, Bill and Paige immediately look over to their arrival from the scans of the region. "I mean, I expected Luke and Duo to be screwing around somewhere and you guys to be watching in anticipation. Not giving blood."

"It was Xavier's idea, to be fair," Duo replied. "And I resent the idea that I screw around at any point in time. Everything I do is deadly serious to me."

"You guys gave blood?" Bill asked, glancing over to them. "How come? Any particular reason?"

"Why not?" Nahir replied. "Felt good. If it saves someone, then..."

"Oh, I'm not knocking you."

"Sounded like it," Luke pointed out. "We did a good thing today. What harm is going to be done by introducing our blood to the system?"

* * *

"Sir!"

Looking over to the figure stood behind him, Dennis shot her a smile. Ever since his new plan had been put into action, he was astonished at how smoothly it was going. She, like most of the other former Pokémon Hunter clones, had taken well to the transformation. Rather than take the time consuming approach of subjecting each one of them to the Genesis Book, Arbok had for the purposes of this, managed to perfect it into a quick formula. Added to the ready supply of the Pokémon Hunter clones around the region, he was ready to put phase two of the plan into action.

"We have tracked down traces of Genesis energy within the samples of blood we have taken," Pokémon Hunter K continued. "My squad is ready to fly, search and destroy."

"Then, why are you still here?" Dennis demanded. "Go! Now!"

Watching Pokémon Hunter K leave the room, he couldn't help but marvel at the constant effect Arbok's serum had had on the clones. Where they had been alike in life, genetically, each of them now resembled a giant wingless Charizard, only with the grey scales and face of a Salamence. The mouth full of huge pointed teeth, she smiled back at him.

"We will not fail, sir!" she replied, before leaving the room. Her presence being replaced by that of Arbok's arrival.

"The Hunters turned out great, huh," he commented. "If they're half as efficient at the job of hunting rangers, as they were as hunting Pokémon then..."

"We've got a match on DNA that almost certainly belongs to the rangers," Dennis replied. "Traces of Genesis energy within it. With the reading of that combination, of the DNA signature and the energy within it, we have modified their scanners to spot them. To home in on those rangers. Now, nothing can keep them from hiding from us."

"How can this plan fail?" Arbok asked. "I can't see a way of it happening."

* * *

"Another food run..." Duo complained, as he, Katie, Xavier and Ryan made their way down to the street towards the store in Cuellar City. "Man, there's only eight of us who need to eat on the Silver Gyarados. You wouldn't think that we'd go through so much so quickly."

"Well, apparently we do," Xavier commented. "If you didn't eat so much, then..."

"I don't eat a lot," Duo replied. "But, I do feed my Feraligatr a lot of that stuff. Like Torchic meat."

"So that's where that keeps going," Katie said, rolling her eyes. "I thought that you shouldn't feed them raw Torchic because it can..."

"I cook it up first," the black ranger protested. "I'm not a novice. I've been with my Feraligatr for years. I know what he likes. And that my Eevee likes bitter food, while my Dusclops doesn't eat."

"My Torterra likes to eat Cherri Berries," Ryan offered. "Strange. But, I've got the same thing with him, as you have with your Feraligatr and Katie has with her Vaporeon. And Xavier with his Blaziken."

"Hey, don't knock it," Xavier said. "I can think of at least one great ranger who also has a Blaziken. And also, you remember Felix?"

"Who?" Ryan asked. "I don't..."

"Felix Jefferson, the red space ranger," Duo replied. "Interesting guy. He had a Torchic, but I don't know if it's evolved yet."

"Never met him," Ryan replied, shortly before a shadow fell down across the horizon in front of the four of them. "Wait, did it just go..."

Before he could finish, several blasts of fire rained down on the four of them. Exploding as they crashed into the ground, each of the rangers were thrown aside by the proximity of the blasts.

"What the hell?" Katie shouted, throwing her glare up to the sky. Three airborne figures circling around on them, each on unusual shaped gliders. From her quick look, she deduced that they were meant to resemble a pair of Charizard wings. Which was apt as the figures upon them looked like grey wingless Charizard monsters.

Throwing the question out of her mind, she hurled herself to the side, anticipating another attack. One that never came, instead the three aerial monsters going for Ryan, Duo and Xavier. The male rangers hurling themselves to the side, to evade the blasts. Groaning in pain at the residual heat given off by the attacks, they tried to get back up.

"Sexist monsters," Duo complained, the unharmed Katie not escaping his notice. "How come they're attacking us and not you?"

"Maybe they met you," Katie quipped, as the trio of monsters came swooping back around to attack again. Once more ignoring the red ranger, focusing on the blue, green and black rangers.

"Are they colour blind or something?" Ryan complained, bringing his morpher up. "Screw this. I'm shooting back."

"You guys try and stall them for a second," Katie ordered, heading into the closest alley. "I've got an idea. Since it's not me they're trying to get."

"Okay, let's do it!" Xavier yelled, following Ryan's lead to bring his morpher up. Duo already having done the same.

"Genesis Overload!"

Transforming into their ranger suits, the three of them instantly brought their Genesis Blaster sidearms up from the holster, aiming them up into the sky. Each readily unleashing a barrage of laser fire up into the air, trying to tag down one of the monsters. The aerial threat easily evading the attacks.

"Damn!" Ryan yelled. "We can't hit them. They're too fast."

Even as they stopped firing, the Poké Hunters began to swoop in again. Flipping to the side to evade the blast, Duo brought his Shadow Sabre out. Taking several deep breathes, he pushed himself up off the ground, swinging his weapon up to separate one of the wings. Screeching in complete surprise, the Hunter swerved away, losing control and ploughed into the side of the closest building. Exploding on contact.

"That's how to deal with that," the black ranger crowed. Just before the remaining two swooped down to blast him with a stream of fire, Duo collapsing in pain.

"You should focus more on being fire proof," Xavier commented, bringing his Genesis Blaster up again to shoot at the retreating Hunters. The pair easily evading the attacks.

* * *

High above them, Katie raised the Flareon Battle Rifle. Waiting for them to rise up out of the gaps between the buildings, it didn't take long for them to show up. Taking careful aim at one of them, she quickly pulled the trigger.

"Flareon Fury!"

At her command, the stream of fire erupted out of the barrel of the weapon, roaring through the air before turning into the shape of a mystical Flareon. Already looking to the final Hunter as the attack crashed into one of them, instantly blowing it up into hundreds of pieces, Katie knew that she wasn't going to get lucky with the same trick twice.

"Ah, what can I lose?" she asked, starting to run towards the edge of the building.

"Guess that's the element of surprise gone," Ryan commented, as they saw the second Hunter explode. "How are we going to..."

Instantly shutting up, he threw himself to the side, the being rapidly swooping down to attack them again. The blasts of fire streaking towards the three of them...

Only for a giant Flareon to leap down onto the scene, taking the blasts on the body. Letting out a growl of pain, it swept up a front paw and sent the much smaller being crashing into the same side of the building as the first one had gone into earlier.

Even as silence erupted out across the area, the Flareon turned to the three badly scorched male rangers. Almost shrugging her shoulders in surprise.

"What was that about?" Katie asked, quickly shifting back into her ranger form. "Any ideas at all?"

"None," Xavier replied. "But, I think we should get out of here as quickly as possible."

* * *

"Are you all okay?" Lance asked, as the four of them came back into the Silver Gyarados. All at least a little injured from the bruising encounter with the three Hunters. "You look..."

"Never mind that," Xavier said, a little abrasive with the stress. "What the heck was that? What were they?"

"They looked to be Pokémon Hunters," Lance replied. "A group of identical clones created by the Coppingers to steal Pokémon for profit."

"I did hear of some of those operating in Sinnoh," Ryan said. "So..."

"All under the command of the Coppingers," Lance told him. "That's all that this can be."

"So, we know what they are," Bill said, as Luke and Nahir came into the room. "What we don't know is what happened. Why they made you there, or even why they refused to attack Katie."

"Well, they always did have selective targets," Lance replied. "Try to avoid engaging anything around them that wasn't their target unless it attacked them..."

"So, they're like the Roterminator?" Duo asked. "That sorta makes sense. But, we're all rangers. Why would they attack us and not Katie. She's a ranger as well."

"Just think it through," Luke offered. "Is there any reason that would happen?"

"Unless they could identify us as rangers," Nahir said. "You guys, possibly us. But not Katie. You're invisible to them."

"How is that even possible?" Katie asked, looking over to Lance. "How did they tend to operate in the past?"

"Usually," the Dragon Master replied, stroking his chin. "It was all in the shades that they wore. They were an incredibly complicated piece of tech. They would scan a piece of on file DNA and search them out that way. Is there any way that..."

Completely interrupting him, the PokéManiac next to him let out a huge gasp.

"They tracked the power in your blood and they can hit you any time," Bill said. "I mean... You're safe here on the Silver Gyarados because of the materials in the design, but while those Poké Hunters are out there, nowhere else is safe for you. It's because you gave blood. They must have... Which is why they're not after Katie."

"You can tell that from their eyewear?" Duo asked. "What would you say if I came in wearing a baseball cap and shades."

"Nothing that I wouldn't already know," Bill replied. "Man, this is a mess. Even unmorphed, they can track you."

"So, it's reasonable to believe that on at least some level the Coppingers have an interest in the blood drive," Katie said. "This is interesting."

"How is it interesting?" Luke wondered, looking over to the red ranger.

"Because, they didn't get mine," she replied. "Thank you so much, mom and dad."

"What are you going to do?" Lance asked, folding his arms. "On your own, you can't hope to take down too many of those things. Probably."

"Brute force isn't going to be the answer," Katie replied. "Think I might go undercover. Infiltrate their HQ, see what's happening and figure out how to stop it."

Even as she spoke, Bill had been typing away at his console. Eventually bringing up the web page of the blood drive.

"Says here that the blood drive is a subsidiary operation of Reims," he replied. "If I link back up to the Reims page, it says that..."

Pausing for a moment, he clicked away several times, before looking back around at them.

"... That they are currently hiring new recruits for the blood drive program. Even to work behind the scenes. Preferably female applicants..."

"I can't believe that they got away with putting that on there," Luke commented. "My family's company once put something similar on a website and nearly got sued."

"Think when you're a multi-billion dollar corporation, you can afford the best lawyers money can buy," Bill replied. "That's a possible option for you getting in there."

Reading further, he quickly let out another groan.

"But, you would have to take a medical. Including a blood test. So..."

"Well, that's not good," Lance said. "What can you do now? You can't surrender your blood."

Stroking her chin at the thought, Katie finally let out a laugh.

" Nobody said that this would be easy. But, I might need some help," she said. "And I think I might know where to get it."

"What do you have planned?" Nahir wondered.

"The ultimate deception."

* * *

Walking to the end of the dock, the sight of the boat from Hoenn in the distance, Katie paused for a moment. Only a few people were getting off, one of them almost instantly recognisable to the red ranger. Even though they'd only met once before, spending quite a bit of time together. The girl she was meeting spotting her, before moving to come over. She was wearing a red jacket with a black t-shirt, as well as blue jeans and pink shoes. She had shoulder length silky black hair and green eyes. A watch with a red strap visible at the end of one of her sleeves. As she moved closer, the girl gave her a smile.

"Hey you," Katie said, holding out her arms. Tara hesitating for a moment, before grabbing her in a hug.

"Long time no see," she said. "How've you been?"

"I've been great," Katie replied. "Thanks for coming, Tara."

"Well, the phone call that you gave me sounded pretty urgent," Tara said. "So, I dropped what I was doing and..."

"Yeah, it sounded worse than it actually is," Katie admitted, folding her arms as the two of them began to head back towards Cuellar City. "Although, not by much."

"So, what's been going on lately?" Tara wondered. "You still an active ranger?"

"Unfortunately, yeah. SDI defeated the demons, probably about seven or eight months ago now. But, we came back together when a group of criminals attacked the region to get an item known as the Genesis Book. Now, we're in a race against time with them to find the ten components of it. Whoever completes the thing gains the ability to rewrite the world from what it is now. So, that's obviously a problem."

"Too right," Tara admitted. "We beat the Neji virus, by the way."

"Yeah, I heard," Katie said. "Congrats. So, what are you doing right now?"

"I'm on a Pokémon journey in Hoenn with the rest of the former space rangers," she replied. "It's nice. We just passed through Lilycove City, which was handy for the boat."

"Yeah, convenient," Katie said. "You got six badges then?"

"I have," Tara confirmed. "So, what is the big situation that we have here? What help do you need from me?"

"It's kind of a long story," she replied. "But, long story short, the others are kinda stuck in our HQ. They gave blood, somehow the bad guys got hold of that blood, they saw that it has the Genesis power within it. Now above the region are several big ugly mutants trying to scan everyone for that blood signature. Fortunately..."

"This is way more complicated than anything the Reckless Riders of the Neji Virus tried to do," Tara interrupted. "So, what help do you need from me?"

For a moment, Katie was silent as they reached the end of the dock.

"It's more help of a personal nature."

"Really?" Tara asked, half jokingly, as they stepped out off the wooden dock. Neither of them paying any attention to the falling crate behind them. "You don't want to borrow blood, do you?"

"Well actually..."

"Hey!"

Looking around to the sound of the voice, Katie was quickly thrown to the ground by the figure of Cobra Red. Quickly loosing interest in her, he threw a punch towards Tara. The new arrival quickly blocking it, before kicking him in the stomach.

"Evil rangers?" Tara asked, taking up a fighting stance. "That's ever such a cliché right now."

"You think I care?" Cobra Red replied, going for the grounded Katie. Jumping up, the red ranger kicked him in the head, forcing him back. "I'll destroy both of you. Right now!"

"You okay to morph?" Katie asked, looking over to Tara. "Because...?"

"Probably will be red," Tara replied. "For old times sake."

"Don't upstage me," Katie quipped, as the two of them brought their morphers up. Tara taking out her Turbo key, before sticking it into her wrist morpher.

"Shift into Turbo!"

Instantly transforming into her costume, Tara wore a red suit with a silver belt and white holster that had a red blaster in it. She had white boots and gloves with black rims, while there were two yellow squares above the stomach, one around the neck and one under it. There were two white stripes across the upper arms and a yellow triangle on each shoulder. On the left, the triangle had the number one on it, while the right one had a T within it. Her helmet had a Blaziken on it, while the visor had headlights and there was also a silver mouthpiece.

"Genesis Overload!

Transforming into her own red ranger suit, Katie took up a fighting stance alongside Tara.

"You're too afraid to fight me alone," the evil ranger taunted. "How about that?"

"Believe me, Cobra Red," Katie said, rolling her eyes under her helmet. "This has nothing to do with you."

"Can't help but sense the tension between you two," Tara commented. "We going to fight, or..."

Not replying, Cobra Red hurled a ball of red energy towards the red Turbo ranger. The blast hitting Tara in the stomach, throwing her to the ground. Not hesitating, Katie went in on the attack. Hitting the evil ranger with a spin kick, Cobra Red retaliated by blocking the strike and pushing her back. Throwing out his arm, he punched her in the face, her helmet taking most of the blow. The distraction just enough to allow Tara to get up and strike him from behind. As he rounded on her, she ducked back to dodge the blow. A weapon quickly appearing her hand, a sword that looked like a fender.

"Flaming Fender Sword!"

Swinging the weapon up and out, she slashed at Cobra Red. Leaving gouges across his body, the action was enough to force a roar of pain out from the evil ranger.

"How do you like that?" Tara taunted. "Not so fun when it's two against one, huh?"

"I could call all the other Cobra Rangers in on the action," Cobra Red replied, listlessly. "See how much you like it as six on two."

"Yeah, but you won't," Katie said, dropping both hands down to her waist. Bringing both Heat Blasters up to fire at him, the roaring flames racing across his armour leaving burns. "You've too much pride for that to happen. You want to destroy me yourself."

"That's irrationality for you," Tara remarked, levelling the sword at him. "You're not the first evil ranger I've seen."

"Walk away now," Katie warned. "I've got higher things on my mind than fighting you!"

"This isn't over!" he growled, before teleporting away. "We will fight again."

"Were you expecting anything else?" Tara wondered, patting her ranger suit down. "Because..."

"Not really," she replied. "Anyway... You need to get anything or are we okay to go on to our base of operations."

"Sounds fine," Tara said, quickly. "How easy is it to get there?"

"Hope you brought your Cyber Slider."

* * *

"I'm back," Katie called, as she and Tara came out onto the bridge of the Silver Gyarados. "Miss me?"

"Everything okay?" Lance asked, looking around. "We saw a burst of energy at the docks, were a bit worried about..."

"Ah, he wasn't much trouble," Tara said, looking around the room. "Well, this is a trip down memory lane. I know you two. Lance and Bill. You're both famous..."

"But, of course," Bill replied, smugly. "Nice to meet you."

"This is Tara," Katie said. "For everyone who doesn't know."  
"Hey, Tara," Ryan offered, waving at her. "Nice to meet you."

"You remember Luke, right?" Katie said, gesturing to the purple ranger. "Xavier, Nahir..."

"Yeah, we all met before on that mission to Syodia," Nahir remarked. "You were all there..."

"And I remember Paige of course," Tara said, as the ghost smiled at her. "How've you been?"

"Up and down," Paige replied. "Ghost. But a step up from dead. Which I think I was..."

"Right," Tara said, a little surprised. "So, is this all of you. Or..."

"Well, hello again."

"Like I'm going to forget that voice," the former pink space ranger groaned, looking around to see Duo leaning against the wall behind her. "Hello, Duo."

"You remember me," the black ranger said, slightly sarcastically. "Can't say that I blame you. Once you've met me, you never forget. That's a promise."

"Not a good one, either," Tara commented. "You just get sleazier every time I meet you."

"It takes years of practice," Duo smiled. "And on that note, how've you been?"

"Pretty good."

"So, why are you here?" Luke wondered. "Just stopping by to say hello, or..."

"She's here to help with our blood problem," Katie said. "I've got a crazy idea that might just work."

* * *

"So, this is the plan," Tara said, as the door open. Katie walking into the room, her hair dyed to the exact same colour as Tara's. She was now wearing a red t-shirt with a number one in black, along with blue jeans, black leather jacket and black heeled boots.

"Wow, I'm seeing double," Duo commented. "And I like it. Always had a thing for twins."

"What are you intending?" Bill asked. "You're going to try getting into the organisation..."

"You said that there was a job interview," Katie said, holding up a vial of blood. "I'm going for it. I claim to be Tara, if they take blood, I'll switch it. That should be enough to fool them that I'm her."

"It is a pretty good likeness," Xavier commented. "If I didn't know better, I wouldn't be able to tell the two of you apart."

"Thank everything for that," Tara said, dryly. "It'll stop Duo from hitting on each of us if he can't tell us apart."

"Hey!" the black ranger protested. "That's... a little unfair. But probably justified. Somehow."

"I'm sticking around here for a while," Tara continued, ignoring him. "At least until this is over, I'll stand in for Katie."

"That's good of you," Bill said. "Thanks."

"I guess I'm heading into the Luxray's den then," Katie remarked. "Wish me luck. Because I'm probably going to need it."

"Good luck," came the chorus of sentiments, as she headed for the exit. Quickly moving out of sight.

* * *

"Hey."

Looking around to the sound of the voice, the morning sun beaming down onto the two of them, Katie saw Duo following her down the stairs.

"What?" she asked. "What's up?"

"Just wanting to tell you to be careful," the black ranger said. "This is going to be dangerous."

"I'm not worried about it," she replied. "It's probably less dangerous for me than it is for you guys to wander around on the streets and get picked off by the Poké Hunters."

"Again, be careful," Duo repeated. "We'll be worried about you."

"Aww, is that concern you're showing?" she asked, shooting a semi sarcastic smile at him. "Don't worry. I'll be fine. Since when were you all for treading carefully anyway? Normally, you can't wait to jump in feet first."

"When we're at full strength, sure."

"I've got to do this," Katie insisted, moving towards her Hover Chaser. "Just one more obstacle."

* * *

"Well, Miss Chaiera," the recruiter behind the desk said, dropping her file down onto the desk. "I've got to say that it's good that you've come. We're having trouble recruiting lately, and three of our workers... Well, they left our service yesterday."

Even as the slick black haired figure grinned at her, Katie felt slightly disconcerted. And found herself wondering if he was referring to the three Poké Hunters that had been destroyed by her and Duo over twelve hours ago.

"I have got to say that we'd be happy to take you on," the man continued. "Subject to a medical, and I have to warn you that it will contain a blood test. So..."

"That's absolutely not a problem," she replied, subconsciously dropping a hand to her pocket where the vial of Tara's blood was. "Where do you need me to go?"

"The nurse will show you where to go," he said, continuing to show her his oily smirk.

* * *

"There you go," the nurse said, removing the needle from Katie's arm. The red ranger watching her transfer it into a vial, not too unlike the one she had in her pocket. "If you'll care to wait here, we can scan it right now and..."

Even as she turned to leave, Katie's mind was already in action. How best to switch them without completely giving the game away? Quickly moving her head, she mentally sent a wave of heat towards the metal handle of the exit. Watching the nurse yelp in pain at the sudden increase in temperature, her other hand came up to clutch at the immolated appendage. Even as she lost the grip on the vial of blood, the red ranger sleeved the vial of Tara's blood and made a leap for it. Just barely managing to scoop it up out of the air, quickly switching them around. The vial up her sleeve replaced by the vial of her own blood.

Shooting the nurse above her a nervous grin, Katie got to her feet and gave her Tara's blood.

"I just didn't want to give it again," she replied, slightly sheepishly. "Here you go."

Still seeing the surprised look on the face of the woman, Katie watched her leave the room. Drawing a deep breath of relief, before slamming the vial of her own blood into the trash can. Hearing it shatter against the metal, before sitting down to wait.

* * *

Having spent ten minutes waiting, she'd been called out of the room and directed down a corridor. Two slightly more well built nurses flanking her for the last few feet of the journey before she arrived at her destination. A small room with a chair in the middle. Restraints at the side of it, for wrists, ankles and neck. Enough to make the smallest feeling of worry appear inside her.

"Okay, Miss Chaiera," the nurse said, a smirk on her face. "It's your turn. Just in here."

As she was quickly pushed forward, Katie couldn't help but feel the bad feeling in her stomach growing by the second. Especially as the second nurse grabbed her arms, forcing her towards the chair.

"What's going on?" she demanded, struggling to break free. Struggling to keep her calm as she tried to stay in character. Would Tara lash out here? Probably, but she didn't want to take any chances.

"Your... orientation," the first nurse snickered. "Please don't panic. It'll only hurt more if you do."

"Wait a second!" Katie exclaimed, as the surprisingly strong nurse behind her forced the red ranger towards the chair. Easily slotting her into the space, the heavy restraints came out, securing her into place. "I never signed up for this."

"I'm afraid that you did," the second nurse commented. "Fear not. Soon, you'll be one of the team."

As she moved towards the secured Katie, she brought a large hypodermic needle out from somewhere. Seeing the dark grey liquid inside the tube, Katie instantly began to try and squirm away from it. Failing miserably in her task, as the point of the needle kissed the skin of her neck. Penetrating it, every inch of her being telling the red ranger to try and break free.

And that was when she started to notice the grey coloured scales starting to appear across her skin...

* * *

To Be Continued...

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Dum dum dum.**

**It doesn't look good for Katie. At all.**

**Special guest star in Tara. Thanks to Blazin' Saddles for the use of her in this two parter.**

**But, whenever blood gets involved, it's never good. Poké Rangers history tells us that, lol.**

**Thanks for the reviews. All appreciated completely. I mean it. Good on you all.**

**Errr... Next one is part two. Preview below, up soon. I decided against the break. At least for now.**

**Anyway, just in case you were paying attention, the 'disguise' that Katie wears is pretty much the same outfit that Tara was wearing in her first appearance in Turbo. So... If you knew that, then...**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Reviews appreciated wildly. Errr... Dennis is going to be replying today.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Twenty, Hunter And Hunted: Part Two, preview.**

**Luke: We heard anything?**

**Tara: I can't help but feel like something is going to go badly wrong.**

**Duo: What are they doing?**

**Dennis: Prepare for all out biological warfare with Verger. They can't win.**

**Arbok: With nobody able to stop us, we can search for the artefacts with ease.**

**PHK: Ready the assault. Nothing must stop us. Nothing can stop us.**

**Katie: I disagree!**

* * *

**Coming soon.**


	20. Hunter And Hunted: Part Two

Chapter Twenty. Hunter And Hunted: Part Two.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_While waiting for Katie to get something done, the remaining five rangers decided to do something for the community and give blood. Yet, they didn't know that it was all part of a Coppinger scheme, Dennis using the mutated Poké Hunter clones to track the rangers down through the use of their blood. Something that the rangers discovered when Duo, Xavier and Ryan were attacked on a food run, yet they left Katie alone. Fortunately, they managed to take down the Hunters with relative ease. Searching for a solution, Katie called in an old friend from Hoenn, Tara Chaiera to help her get inside the blood facility. Easily managing to pass the interview and switching the blood for the test around, Katie was seemingly undone by the orientation of the facility as she was injected with the serum and began to mutate..._

* * *

"We heard anything?"

The question came from Luke, the purple ranger asking the question that all of them were thinking inwardly. Yet, none of them had dared to voice.

"She's only been gone three hours," Lance said. "We're not going to know yet. Probably not for a while."

"You think if there's a massive explosion in Oldwood Town that she'll be the one responsible?" Xavier asked. "Because... Well, it's not like stealing a satellite or throwing a cake at someone. That's a serious crime. People could die."

"She doesn't need to destroy the entire building," Bill pointed out. "Just the processing units that send the DNA date to the Poké Hunters. Maybe she could get out without causing a shed load of violence."

"I wouldn't bet on that," Tara commented, looking up from the console she was glancing at. "I mean... How often do these things go exactly to plan?"

"Not often," Paige offered. "She does have a point. Every little thing can be subject to chance. Like what happens if she doesn't manage to switch the blood and they scan her own? She'll probably have to fight her way out of there."

"I can't help but feel like something is going to go badly wrong," Tara insisted. "Maybe I should head over there and see what's happening."

Glancing down at her watch, she let out a sigh.

"I'll give it half an hour. See where we are then."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

**Special Guest Star: Tara Marie Chaiera.**

* * *

As she moved towards the secured Katie, she brought a large hypodermic needle out from somewhere. Seeing the dark grey liquid inside the tube, Katie instantly began to try and squirm away from it. Failing miserably in her task, as the point of the needle kissed the skin of her neck. Penetrating it, every inch of her being telling the red ranger to try and break free.

And that was when she started to notice the grey coloured scales starting to appear across her skin.

Letting out a shudder of revulsion, the red ranger momentarily lost control of her emotions. The sudden explosion of heat erupted out of her skin, crashing against the restraints. Wearing instantly away through the straps, shattering the syringe in the nurses hand. The liquid inside showering all over her, the nurse let out a howl of pain. A wave of acrid smoke billowing up from her skin, her agony compounded as Katie hit her with a roundhouse kick. Throwing her back against the other nurse, the blow enough to throw both of them to the ground.

"Told you I didn't sign up for this," she warned, as the two of them got back up and began to circle her. "Now..."

Before she could continue, sensations of pain shot through her system. Causing her to double over in agony, one of the nurses taking the opportunity to throw a kick at her head. Managing to barely block the attack, Katie forced the pain away. Throwing a punch at the first nurse, she summoned her power and slammed the figure to the ground. The intense heat burning away some of the white uniform to reveal the nurse to be one of the Poké Hunters.

"Interesting," the red ranger muttered, before the second one came into attack. "Now, why'd you hide a pretty face like that?"

Hearing the sarcasm in her voice only seemed to aggravate the second Hunter. The enemy throwing a punch at her, Katie had to block the blow.

"Soon, you'll be doing the same," the Hunter taunted. "Even right now, the virus is going through your system. You've got a few hours. Tops."

"Then, I guess I'm going to have to find a cure," the red ranger retorted, kicking her back. Watching the monster crash against the wall. "Either way, I don't have time for this."

Snarling angrily at her, the Poké Hunter leaped at her. At the exact same moment as the other did, Katie stepped aside, watching and hearing them crash into each other and knock themselves out.

"Guess you guys aren't too smart," she groaned, heading for the exit.

* * *

"Right, it's been half an hour," Tara said, glancing at her watch. "I'm going. Now."

"What are you going to do?" Lance asked. "Just storm in there and hope for the best?"

"Hell no, I'm going to sneak in."

"Well, at least she's got a half decent plan," Duo commented. "What if it doesn't work?"

"Then I'll do some storming."

"This is pretty reckless," Luke said. "I mean... If we're right and it's a Coppinger stronghold... There could be both Dog and Doombots on the premises. There probably will be Poké Hunters. Monsters."

"I'll go with you," Paige offered. "They don't have my blood signature. Since I don't technically have any blood. Just ectoplasm. You never know, I might be able to walk through a wall and unlock doors from the inside for you. In fact, I probably will."

"Well, it's only slightly less stupid than breaking into a building alone," Bill said. "I'll go find the spectral lock."

"Wait, what's that?"

* * *

Taking several deep ragged breaths, Katie kept on moving. The patch of rough grey scales at her neck slowly expanding out.

"Not like this," she muttered, in between breaths. "Come on. Keep moving."

Almost for comfort, she reached down into her pocket and strapped her morpher on. Taking comfort to the weight on her wrist, to the close presence of her Genesis stone.

"I have to do this."

* * *

"Wild ride," Paige commented, as she and Tara touched down in an alley outside the building. The Cyber Slider vanishing away, along with Tara's pink Space Ranger costume. "Have to do that more often."

"We need to get inside," Tara said, ignoring her for a moment, before glancing over to an emergency exit. "Can you get that open?"

"Oh, but of course."

Shaking her head as Paige vanished through the door, Tara couldn't help but sigh.

"I've really missed the ranger action," she commented. "The days of skulking around in alleys... Life and death situations..."

As the door came crashing open, Paige on the other side, the two of them instantly heard an alarm ring out.

"Crap!" Tara exclaimed. "That's not good."

* * *

Hearing the alarm ring out in the distance, Katie immediately tensed up. Wondering if it had been something she had tripped. The pain in her system instantly shooting up again as she paused, enough to cause her to double over. The scales on her skin increasing by the minute, however slowly.

"Need to find antidote," she groaned. "Quickly."

Spotting a window across from her, she moved over to it, looking inside. Seeing two mutants and several more Hunters inside...

* * *

"Guys!" Bill called. "We've got something. Something interesting."

"What is it?" Xavier asked, coming over to see what was going on. "What's happening?"

"It's really strange," the PokéManiac said, gesturing at the monitor in front of them. The other rangers coming over to get a better view of his screen. "But, there's a large concentration of Genesis energy in the middle of Oldwood Town. It wasn't there two minutes ago. Now, it's coming out of the woodwork."

"What location is it?" Nahir wondered. "Because...?"

"The blood factory..." Luke said. "Has to be."

"What are we doing, living in a vampire movie now?" Ryan asked, sarcastically. "Blood factory indeed.

"For want of a better term," Luke replied. "What could it mean?"

"It can't be good," Lance commented, folding his arms.

"What are they doing?" Duo asked softly, looking at the satellite pictures on the monitor. "What are they planning?"

"If the answers were here, we would have found them," Bill said, sagely.

* * *

Even as Katie carried on listening in on the conversation going on in the lab ahead of her, she heard movement behind her. Turning to see Tara and Paige coming over to her. Much to her surprise.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked, almost doing a double take. "How did you..."

"Had to fight off a squad of Dogbots," Tara replied, quietly. "Came to see what was..."

As she saw the scales spreading across Katie's upper body and arm, her voice tailed off.

"I know, there has to be an antidote somewhere," the red ranger muttered. "Just... I'm trying to hear what they're doing in there."

With that, their attention quickly moved back to what was being said in the lab.

"The Hunters are in position, sir," Arbok said, walking into the room and towards the Coppinger leader. "They'll be ready to go in a matter of minutes. Once they're in the air, nothing can stop them."

"Then, we're almost ready to put our plan into action," Dennis replied. "Excellent, we're ahead of schedule."  
"This is a pretty drastic plan," his scientist commented. "But, it should get results. All in all, if you think that it's worth it."

For a moment, Dennis didn't reply.

"Prepare for all out biological warfare with Verger," he said, glancing at his watch. "They can't win. The attacks coming from the sky will take everyone by surprise."

"With nobody able to stop us, we can search for the artefacts with ease," Arbok crowed. "Would you like me to send the order down the line?"

"If you must feel the need," Dennis replied. "Go for it."

As he heard Arbok give the order, he shot a loving glance towards the empty canisters of Coppinger nerve agent in the corner of the room.

"All is going to plan."

As the two of them started to head for the exit, Tara, Paige and Katie quickly looked at each other.

"This doesn't sound good," Tara commented. "They're going to kill everyone in Verger."

"Might be easier said than done," Paige said. "But, we have to stop them."

"If some of them have already left..." Katie remarked. "Then..."

"Presumably they'll be on those gliders that the Poké Hunters earlier," Paige said. "So, if that's the case, all you'll have to do is commandeer one of them, chase them through the air and shoot them down."

"Because that's not incredibly difficult," Tara said, scathingly.

"Being a ranger's never easy," Katie replied. "Okay, Paige, I need you to go and try to find an antidote, Tara, come with me and we'll see if we can find one of the gliders."

"Sounds like a plan," Tara remarked. "Anything else?"

"Yeah, once I take off, I'll need you to try and destroy every piece of data in here," she replied. "Because..."

"Okay, time's an issue," Paige said, taking a step through the wall. Katie and Tara looking at each other, before making a break for it.

* * *

"Wait, what's that?"

During their sprint towards the roof, Tara had given out the shout. Enough to bring both of them to a halt, the red Turbo ranger gesturing to a room with a door open.

"What's what?"

"This," she replied, gesturing to the sign next to the entrance. "Glider Biometric Scanner. All new recruits in here."

"Well, I hear the word glider. Might as well check it out."

* * *

Moving into the lab, Paige began the metaphorical action of stroking a chin. Not that she could actually do the thing in question, but she still liked it. The way it gave off the impression of deep thought.

"Now, if I was an antidote," she said, moving away from the chin stroking to the arm folding. Still subconsciously amazed at how much she missed the relatively simple action. Even when she was able to affect the environment around her, she still remained a ghost. Unable to make contact with anything for more than a few seconds. "Where would I be."

She was still deliberating on it moments later, when she heard the door open behind her. Letting out a gasp of surprise at the figure who walked through it, probably one of the last people she had expected to see.

"You? What are you doing here?"

* * *

"I really really hate this idea," Katie groaned, as Tara finished securing her into the strange scanner. "I mean..."

"Well, according to this leaflet," Tara replied. "In order to use the gliders, you have to be scanned into the system. So that your biometrics match up with the system, making it so that you can control it with ease. It's all in here."

"It doesn't mean I like it any less," she said. "I mean... What if..."

"There isn't any other way," Tara insisted, moving over to the control panel. "Now hold on because it apparently may sting a little."

"It say that in the leaflet?"

"No, but it always does, apparently," she commented, dryly. "I'm just reading in between the lines. And guessing."

Throwing a nervous grin across to the secured red ranger, she reached out to throw the switch.

"Here goes nothing," Tara muttered, as electricity began to crackle. "Woah!"

For a moment, nothing happened, leaving Katie just stood there looking bemused.

"Is that it?" she wondered. Seconds before the machine burst into life, a bright blue light starting to rise up across the frame of the machine, scanning across her body. Every second that it passed up her body causing her to twitch more and more with the discomfort, eventually violently thrashing in agony against her restraints.

"How is it?" Tara wondered, folding her arms. Eternally glad that she wasn't in the machine, that sense of relief quickly vanished at the withering look she was given from Katie. Just for a second before she went back to her torment. "Okay, stupid question."

Instead of responding, Katie instead squeezed her eyes shut, seeing that the blue scanning beam was almost at her face. Given the stinging sensation it had put through the rest of her body, she didn't need to be blinded with the pain as well. Every inch of her skin was on fire, as she sensed it passing across her lips, up towards her nose, past the eyes and across the forehead. Even her hair started to sting as the machine sputtered to a stop and the engine died.

* * *

"Okay, I'm really getting worried right now," Xavier said. "We're impotent rangers here. We can't do a damn thing. Maybe we should just go out and fight whatever comes at us. It's got to..."

"Hey, as acting leader in absence of Katie," Duo replied, quickly. "I'm saying that we stay put for the moment. If we don't hear from any of them in the next two hours..."

"It could be too late by then," Nahir pointed out. "They might be dead by that point."

"That's a chance we've got to take," Duo said. "Come on! Two heavily experienced rangers and a ghost. They're probably fine."

"On your head be it," Xavier muttered, angrily.

* * *

"Are you okay?"

Every bit of rage that had been building up under her skin, combined with the pain and the suffering that she had been enduring for the last half hour finally threatened to explode as Katie let out a frustrated yell of anger.

"Do I look okay?" she demanded, seeing that the scales across her skin had increased. As of now, they had spread down her arms and almost to her waist. Strangely, her face had remained clear for the moment, the scales ending at the base of her neck. "Come on!"

"I'm only trying to help..." Tara started to say, before she quickly calmed down.

"Sorry," she muttered. "Just... That kinda hurt."

"Yeah, it looked like it," Tara commented. "Apology accepted. So, what now?"

"You think you can wreck their computer systems?" Katie asked. "Cancel whatever they've sent out on the other rangers?"

"I think I probably could," she said, with a grin. "I do have my destructive instincts."

"You're not going to vomit on it, are you?" Katie asked, managing to weakly return the grin as the two of them started to go their separate ways.

"Probably not," Tara muttered, wondering the best way to go about it. "Think I might just smash it up."

* * *

"Ready the assault," Poké Hunter K ordered, striding around her soldiers. All of them getting onto their Hunter Gliders, ready to take off. "Nothing must stop us. We have a glorious mission here. Nothing can stop us."

"I disagree!"

Looking around to the sound of the voice, the entire army saw the heavily weakened Katie limping onto the scene.

"As long as I'm here, I'm going to try and stop you," she said. "Because, I can't let you win. I won't let you win."

"You're too late," K commented, rolling her eyes. "Nothing you can do will stop us! Hunters! Fly now!"

At the commands, those that were already on their gliders began to leave the roof. Heading off onto the horizon, Poké Hunter K following their lead, accelerating her way to the front of the pack. Seeing several more Hunters yet to get on board, Katie ran. Bringing her morpher up as she did so, quickly shouting out the command.

"Genesis Overload!"

Transforming into her ranger suit, she quickly brought her blasters up. Unleashing a storm of fire towards the remaining Hunters, the monsters easily going down under her attack.

"Sorry, ladies," she quipped, moving towards the closest Hunter Glider. "But, I've got places to be right now."

As she started to strap herself in, the vehicle seemed to instantly react to her touch. The wings flaring out, ready to carry her up into the air.

"Brings a new meaning to the phrase trial by fire," she muttered, starting to direct the machine into following the Poké Hunters up ahead. "Okay, let's see if I can work this out..."

* * *

Taking a step into the lab, Tara instantly found herself wondering where everyone had gone. Less than ten minutes ago, the place had been filled with scientists and lab technicians. Now, it was empty. Just her and...

"Hey!"

Without warning, a huge figure charged into her from behind, the huge blow enough to send her crashing forward. Hitting the ground, she rolled around to see what had happened. The sight of Dennis bearing down on her forcing her to scramble back, evading the blow he threw down into the ground at her.

"You're not supposed to be in here," he said, coldly. "Intruders will be dealt with in the harshest possible..."

Cutting him off, Tara jumped up from a prone position, throwing a spin kick at his head. The attack barely fazing the Coppinger leader, his jaws snapping away at her foot. Withdrawing it, Tara quickly realised that he could easily cause some serious damage to her if he so chose.

"I just took a wrong turn," she muttered. "Got a bit lost is all."

"Last mistake you'll ever make," Dennis said, coldly. "Prepare to die."

As he made to throw another attack at her, Tara hurled herself back. Bringing her Turbo key up, sweeping it into the morpher, she let out her command.

"Shift into Turbo!"

Instantly morphing into her ranger suit, she brought up her Auto Blaster and fired twice at Dennis. The Coppinger leader easily taking the blasts, bringing his hands up to throw a Dragon Pulse attack at her. As she was thrown back by the attack, she crashed against one of the consoles, feeling it crumble under the impact.

"Another ranger," Dennis said, more amused than anything. "How interesting. Give you credit for at least trying to face me. Unlike those other rangers..."

"Well, I'm here, aren't I?" she asked, smirking under her helmet. "And I'm going to put you down."

"Then, please," Dennis replied, holding both hands up. "Feel free to try. Fifty dollars says that you fail."

Ignoring him, Tara brought out the Flaming Fender Sword, going in on the attack. Striking away at Dennis, he easily blocked her attacks with his arms. The metallic blade bouncing off the scales, the Coppinger leader let out a laugh before hitting her with a spin kick. The blow forcing her back, the series of punch attacks forcing the red Turbo ranger back even further.

"At the moment, my money looks safe," he said, sarcastically. "This is the best you've got?"

"Nope," Tara replied, making her decision. "Saving the best till last."

Without hesitating, she brought out a ruby handled Turbo key. Inserting it into her morpher, she began to transform again. Dark clouds began to form around her, as black armour appeared across her uniform with ruby glitter. She also had black fire boots and gloves, while her helmet was also black with a gree visor. In her hands, an assault rifle with a blade attached to it appeared.

"Interesting," Denis commented, folding his arms.

"Red Phantom Ranger!" Tara yelled, putting a cartridge into the rifle. "Fire Vulcan!"

At her command, multiple flame bullets came out of the barrel, streaking through the air towards Dennis. The Coppinger leader easily taking the blast, watching as the weapon transformed into a purple sword with fire surrounding it.

"Phantom Blade!" she continued, swinging it out towards him. The blade bouncing off Dennis' skin, the Coppinger spinning around to hit her with a powerful roundhouse kick. The blow throwing her back through the air, Tara hit another of the consoles and instantly demorphed out of both her Battlizer and her ranger suit.

"That's one way to destroy them," she muttered, quietly. "Not the one that I had in mind but..."

Quickly shutting up, she threw herself to the side, seeing Dennis make for another run towards her. Ready to attack some more.

* * *

Mastering the glider had been easier than expected. Every little movement, just as she thought about it was flawlessly executed. Soaring high above the ground, the sight of the ten or so Poké Hunters in the distance, Katie actually felt a little better. The giddy sensations alive in her stomach, quickly brought back down to Earth as she thought of her predicament.

"I just hope that you can save me, Paige," she muttered, before starting to accelerate after the distant figures. "Now, where are the weapons?"

* * *

Ducking back away from the attacks the Coppinger leader was hurling at her, Tara slowly tried to edge her way around to the last console. Wondering if she could trick him into blowing the thing, her question was quickly answered when he sent a blast of dragon type energy racing towards her. Hurling herself to the side, she heard it explode behind her. Hot plastic raining down on her, she gave a mental count of the remaining consoles. Satisfied that they were all gone, she began to look for an exit.

"All this wreckage," Dennis commented. "Such a waste. Yet, it'll all be worth it in a matter of time. Your life is the price of destruction."

"If you're going to kill me," Tara replied, spotting a window across from her. "Then do it. Don't talk about it."

Without hesitating, she ran. Hurling herself across the room, throwing her entire body through the window, the glass smashing around her.

Watching her go, Dennis slowly stepped over to the window. Glancing out of the shattered remains of the glass, he saw a pink streak vanish away across the horizon.

"Lucky," he muttered, before turning to survey the damage done. "Oh well. Soon, it won't matter."

* * *

"Okay, so that's how to do that," Katie muttered, a powerful stream of fireballs raking through the air from the back of the glider towards the Poké Hunters in the distance. "Pretty handy weapon in..."

Interrupting her, a small explosion rang out in the distance. Some of her fire having made contact with a pair of Hunters up ahead, their gliders exploding on contact. Their wounded pilots falling down through the air, their distant screams ringing out before they exploded. Ignoring them and pushing her thrusters on, she continued to accelerate after the figures. Closing in on them, she unleashed another flurry of fire towards the enemies. Her attacks closing in on them, she saw them react. Spinning around to fire back at her, she brought her glider up to evade the attacks. Shooting back, she watched them explode into several pieces, their remains falling to the ground.

Six more left, they attack in groups of two...

Chasing after the next group, she saw them react. Spinning around to launch their own fireball attacks at her, Katie swung her Hunter Glider out into a barrel roll. Shooting while strafing, she saw the blasts rake across their own gliders, the destruction absolutely enough to take them down. Throwing her glider lower, she forced the thrusters to increase their output. Increasing her acceleration across the sky, the red ranger began to close in on the next group of gliders. Despite taking down six of them, she found herself worrying. The way she had taken them down... It had just seemed a little too easy.

Interrupting her reverie, she jerked the Hunter Glider to the side, evading a stream of attacks directed towards her. Instantly firing back, the red ranger watched them evade her attack. Taking the moment to force herself down onto them, her attacks screaming through the air towards them. The blasts taking them by surprise, they quickly went the way of the others, falling thousands of feet through the air towards the ground.

Just two more left...

Increasing her speed, the glider starting to shake under the exertion of what she was doing to it. Katie just trying to force just a few more miles of speed out of the vehicle. Closing in on the final two, one of them being Poké Hunter K, she prepared to take them down...

... Only for K to spin around and smash one of her legs through the wings of the glider next to her. Sending it smashing back towards Katie, the move taking the red ranger by surprise. As the flailing Hunter knocked her back, Poké Hunter K came closing up on her. Grabbing Katie by the throat, she started to fly down. Fast. Towards the top of the closest skyscraper, the realisation of this enough to force her to squeeze her eyes shut and hope for the best.

* * *

Pain coursed through her body as she hit the rooftop. Even straight away, she could imagine the bruises rising up across her skin. And, after all she'd been through previously, she thought that she didn't bruise easily.

And then came K's wrath. The Hunter grabbing her up by the shoulders, slamming her into the ground again. Her brain fogging up from the pain, she forced herself to fight back. Hitting K in the stomach with both feet, she jumped up to attack with another kick. Shrugging off her glider, she went back on the attack. Throwing a punch towards K, the Hunter easily blocked the blow. Kneeing her in the stomach, the red ranger doubled over in pain. The infection coursing through her system once again, what was happening seemingly not escaping K.

"There it goes," she taunted. "Your high price for reaching this point. Soon, you'll be like me. Unable to go back to anything else. There's no antidote. No escaping us."

Stung by the comment, Katie responded by throwing a punch towards K's stomach. Her attack fueled by anger, the blow forcing her over in pain.

"You think I care?" she asked, moving to twist her arm up. Sensing it snap under the duress, Katie heard K let out a scream of pain. "I'll still fight. I'll still destroy you and anything else that gets in my way."

"An attitude that's going to make you many friends throughout the years," K said, sarcastically. Before throwing her good arm up and sending the red ranger sailing up into the air with a powerful strike. Back away from the edge, already starting to fall down through the air. "Although, that's not going to be that long."

Even as she fell, Katie saw her Hunter Glider move. Shooting through the air from where she'd discarded it, the vehicle slotted onto her back. Flames erupting from the metal, covering her entire body. Much to K's bemusement.

"What the...?" she started to say, before the red ranger accelerated up in the burning fireball. Hurling herself forward, unleashing a punch backed by the raw heat of fire, Katie felt her entire body pass straight through Poké Hunter K. Completely decimating her from view, the heat around her instantly died down. Her sentiments mimicking those that K had given off moments before she had been destroyed.

"What the heck was that?"

Landing back on the roof, she quickly doubled over in pain, Clutching at her stomach, the agony absolute, she heard a voice in her helmet.

"Katie," Bill said. "You need to get back to the Silver Gyarados right now. Tara and Paige are both back here, with the antidote. We know what's happening, hurry on over and..."

"Let's see if this thing has enough juice to get me there then," she muttered, looking at the glider. "Time to go."

* * *

Racing through the air, she felt the creaking wings start to give again. The combination of the damage to them, the high speed use ad the extreme temperatures probably not what had been intended when the Coppingers had thrown them together. Yet, it was holding together nicely, propelling her through the air above the ocean. By her guess, she was still at least five minutes from the Silver Gyarados. The tatty outline of the boat a speck in the distance, every second taking an eternity. The knowledge that she was so close aching more than the pain in her body, the mutation forcing a breaking point for her.

Every crawling minute, the sensations under her suit growing stronger, she got closer to the Silver Gyarados. Almost able to see the watching rangers on the deck, she began to fly lower. Soaring through the air, ready to make a graceful landing on the deck...

And missed completely as a convulsion of pain wracked her body. Rather than hit the deck, she bounced off the wooden surface and land in the pool. The water all around her almost cooling as she hit it. Immediately letting herself loose from the glider, she kicked her way to the surface and leaped out with all the prior grace she had managed in her past life as a swimmer. Immediately seeing everyone else present looking down at her, as she scrambled to her feet.

"Nice glider," Bill commented, looking at the wrecked vehicle in front of him. "Well, at least it was..."

"You think you might be able to fix it?" Katie groaned, barely able to stand. Dropping to her knees, she quickly demorphed out of her ranger suit. "The extra firepower might be handy..."

"I'll see what I can do," the PokéManiac muttered, as Duo and Xavier reached down to help her up. "You think that maybe you should get some rest. You look terrible."

"Antidote," she muttered, her lips barely moving. "Tell me that..."

"Damn, she's in a real mess," Duo said, as Bill reached into his pocket to bring out a syringe.

"Paige got it here nearly twenty minutes ago," he said, injecting the contents into Katie's neck. The red ranger letting out another groan before passing out. Completely.

"Just in time I'd say," Tara remarked. "And in the same way, I guess only time is going to tell if she's going to be okay."

"If she isn't, we're all screwed," Luke commented. "So..."

"Got to say, I love that small talk before we did that," Xavier remarked. "Now I guess it's just the waiting game until she wakes up."

"At least everyone's still alive," Lance said. "By the looks of it, she managed to shoot down all of the Hunters before they wiped out Verger."

"One good thing," Nahir remarked. "Now, I guess we just wait."

* * *

"I got you the antidote."

Looking at her surroundings, Katie found herself in a park somewhere. Lush green grass, the sound of the ocean far in the distance. All relaxing her, right down to the bench she was sat on. Paige across from her.

"Thought you might need it."

"How did you get it?" she asked, looking over to the ghost. "Poké Hunter K said that there was no antidote. One of you isn't telling the whole truth."

"What can I say?" Paige asked. "She was probably lying. Bad guys do that."

"I suppose," Katie replied. "But, there's something... Something about you. What aren't you telling us?"

"You'll find out soon enough," the former ranger said, before vanishing. "All in good time, your questions will be answered."

Mulling on it for a moment, she moved her gaze to the horizon. Seeing a black shadow moving towards her, a figure casting it onto the grass. A strange feeling echoing across her entire being as she stood up to see who it was...

... And jerked up in bed in her cabin on the Silver Gyarados. Completely healed, no more scales and a great sense of relief.

"Whew."

* * *

"Hey, are you okay?"

Looking over to where the voice had come from, Katie saw all her friends sat in the bar. Waiting for her. Everyone apart from Bill, the PokéManiac nowhere to be seen.

"I'm better," she replied. "Thanks to you all. I guess."

"Hey, no problem," Tara said, drinking a glass of Jack Daniels. "You were in a bad state when you landed."

"Just had to give you the antidote," Ryan remarked. "You've been under for two days. Completely out cold."  
"Well, I feel better for it," she replied. "Seriously, thanks guys. Just..."

"Want to explain what for?" Luke wondered. "You're thanking us and we don't know why."

"You never know why," Nahir commented, bitingly. "So, why is it?"

"Just that you guys are always there with my back," the red ranger said. "And... It's great having you as my friends."

"Are you still high from the drugs?" Duo wondered. "I mean..."

"You don't get high from antidote," Xavier pointed out. "So..."

"Correction, from most antidotes," the black ranger said. "We don't know... Anyway, it's not the point. We've got your back. Just like you've got ours. And the fact that you put everything on the line for us... It means a lot. At least we can leave the Silver Gyarados now without getting attacked by mutants."

"Welcome back to the land of the living," Lance said, summing everything up. "Good to see you again."

"I'm glad to be back," the red ranger replied, before finishing her look around the room. "Where's Bill, anyway?"

"Oh, he's in the middle of something," Paige offered.

* * *

Shaking his head, as he glanced down to the battered glider, Bill shook his head in disbelief. Before getting down to his knees, ready to start the probably lengthy rebuilding process.

"This is going to take a while."

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Hmmm... What could be coming there? Answer in six chapters time.**

**But, some hints. Anyway, it's all relative. You can probably guess, but...**

**Anyway, day saved again. And probably the last appearance of Tara in this fic. Certainly no plans for her to return. **

**Okay, so thanks for the reviews. All welcomed a lot.**

**Next one, the bridge between the next two parter, is entitled Project Apex. Preview below, coming soon. **

**Also, what is going on with Paige? That's also going to be revealed in the next but one chapter. Or possibly two.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**

**Reviews welcomed... Let's see... Poké Hunter K will be replying today.**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty One, Project Apex, preview.**

**Dennis: Okay, so the last plan was a failure.**

**Arbok: Our collaboration effort is almost ready.**

**Noland: We set this on the rangers, they won't be able to handle her.**

**Harley: The suspense is killing me.**

**Katie: That's it. I've had it with super powered women who aren't me.**

**Xavier: There has to be a way to destroy her.**

**?: Project Apex activated.**

* * *

**Coming soon.**


	21. Project Apex

Chapter Twenty One. Project Apex.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As they didn't hear from Katie on her mission to infiltrate the Coppinger Blood Facility, the other rangers started to grow worried. Meanwhile, as her mutation began, Katie flipped out and used her heat powers to break free. Defeating both nurses, she hooked up with Tara and Paige who had come to find her. Going their separate ways, they each tried to find a way to stop Dennis' plot to kill everyone in Verger with a nerve agent. While Paige found an antidote, Tara faced Dennis, yet was unable to defeat him, even with the use of her Battlizer. As the fight destroyed most of the consoles, she made her escape. Meanwhile, Katie, still mutating, entered a biometric scanner in order to fly the Hunter Gliders. Taking command of one, she managed to shoot down most of the gliders before battling the leader. In destroying Poké Hunter K, she managed to get healed thanks to the antidote before lapsing into a coma for two days. Meanwhile, Bill started to work on repairing the glider that she'd stolen..._

* * *

"Here's a wacky suggestion," Luke said, looking over from where he was reading a magazine on golf. "A really wacky suggestion."

"Go on, I'll bite," Xavier remarked, glancing up to him. "What's your wacky suggestion?"

"Mini golf," he replied. "That's what I'll do. Take her for mini golf..."

"I don't think that's such a great idea," Xavier said. "She doesn't really... I just don't think that it's a great idea."

"Any better ideas?" he asked. "If you're going to be so constructively critical."

"Well, I'm probably not the best person to ask," he replied. "Maybe you should go ask Duo. Or Ryan. Or hell, even Katie. Maybe Lance. That guy's probably had some major tail in his day."

"Bill, not so much I'd wager," Luke muttered, slightly cruelly.

"I don't know," Xavier said. "He and Miranda seemed pretty tight. You have to wonder if they ever..."

"Actually, I haven't," the purple ranger replied. "Believe it or not."

"I still can't believe that it took you this long to follow up on it," Xavier remarked. "It's only eleven long months since you collapsed on the floor in our old room in the Aquabase and professed your love for her. You don't half make things hard for yourself, I can't imagine the desperate lengths of obsession you've gone through in that time..."

"I'm not desperate."

"... And now, you do get her to agree to go on a date with you, albeit because she lost a bet..."

"That always sounds so much worse than it actually is."

"... You're free wheeling all over the place, turning into a panicking mess. Grow a spine!"

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"I heard shouting," Duo commented, looking on into the room. "Who's yelling at who? Can I join in?"

"Duo," Luke said. "Just someone that I wanted to talk to."

"Really?"

"No, not really, but you'll do."

"Oh, thanks for that," the black ranger replied, sarcastically. "What can I do for your royal lowness?"

"That's a burn for a start," Xavier commented. "You want some jam, because you've been toasted."

"Okay," Luke said, ignoring both of them. "I'm calling that date in with Nahir..."

"Right..." Duo replied, folding his arms. "And you're telling me because..."

"Just looking for some personal input."

"And, you're asking me?" the black ranger asked. "Maybe that's not the best thing to do. I've got an awful record lately. Ever since what happened with Danni..."

"Could you just confirm something with that actually," Xavier wondered. "Is it true that Paige and Mitzi gave you a bit of a beating on the Kyogre MegaShip for the way you ended it with her?"

"Well, I couldn't turn invisible then," he replied. "So, no escape."

"Anyway, back to my problem," Luke said, sounding annoyed at the way it had broken away from him. "Just... It's not a particularly well kept secret that I like Nahir..."

"I didn't know," Duo replied. "Ryan doesn't know. Lance doesn't. Bill doesn't. She doesn't. And Katie..."

"Does," Luke said, shooting a glare at Xavier who began to whistle innocently. "And Xavier does as well... Which..."

"I only told Katie in a moment of weakness," the blue ranger protested. "Like you've never had a moment of weakness."

"Only because you've never told me any of your secrets."

"Can you blame me? You'd probably use them against me..."

"Anyway, what was your point?" Duo asked, breaking up the argument momentarily. "You've got a thing for Nahir... Actually, now you mention it..."

"I'm just trying to think of a way to get a second date with her," Luke explained. "Or, at least not to completely blow the first one."

"Ah, you've got a tough task there then," Duo said, breezily. "My advice to to you..."

"This ought to be good," Xavier muttered. "Really really good."

"... You've already got a good prior knowledge of her. Who she is, what she likes. Use it."  
"Hmmmm..."

* * *

"Gah," Jake complained, as he and Hawk walked into the crowded conference room. Finding it already full of other Coppingers, everyone apparently waiting for the two of them. "We got here as fast as we could..."

"Yet, you're still four hours late," Dennis said, coldly. "Do you have any reasonable excuses? Any possible reason at all why we shouldn't destroy you for a lack of respect?"

"Because we've got half of one of the artefacts?" Hawk offered. "And it's more than the rest of you put together."

"Sit down and shut up," the Coppinger leader ordered, the two of them quickly taking their seats. "Okay, so the last plan was a failure..."

"I like the way that you let us in on that," Noland remarked. "Try to kill everyone in the region, while we're in there and unaware as well."

"Calm down," Arbok said. "That toxin would not have affected you."

"Since it was all destroyed, we're not likely to know if you're lying or not," Copper remarked. "Honestly..."

"If all we're going to do is hurl around insults like an Aipom will throw its own faeces," Harley interrupted. "Then, why are we here?"

"You know why we're here," Fuller snapped. "So cut the crap and stop trying to play peacemaker. You're just as prone to violence and fury as the rest of us. Don't pretend to come out with some pacifist crap."

"Well, I'm certainly harbouring non-peaceful thoughts towards you, Fuller," Harley replied. "I know why we're here, I'm just trying to get the conversation rolling before it turns nasty."

"Shut up, pillow biter," Hawk said. "That nasty enough for you?"

"Anyway..." Arbok interrupted, trying to get some attention. "Our collaboration effort is almost ready. For the last months, ever since we discovered our unusual powers, our own unique ways of getting things done, we've all put our own effort into creating the ultimate fighting machine. Capable of destroying both sets of rangers."

"The Cobra Rangers," Meredith said, breezily. "Whose general idea was it to unleash those on the world again? Because that was such a great plan."

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Dennis growled. "What have you done, other than pick a pointless feud with the yellow ranger?"

"Anyway, back to Project Apex," Noland said, interrupting the conversation. "We set this on the rangers, they won't be able to handle her. None of them will. She destroys them, makes decorations out of their bones and we conquer the region by finding the artefacts and..."

"Well, the suspense is killing me," Harley snickered. "How much longer?"

* * *

"Hey there."

Looking around from where she was leaning against the rails at the side of the boat, Nahir saw Luke coming over towards her. An uneasy expression on his face, as he came to join her.

"What's going on?" she asked. "What's up?"

"Well..." he replied, pulling at the collar on his shirt. "You remember that thing a couple of weeks ago? When the angel that was not an angel attacked us?"  
"Yeah..." she said. "Incredibly, I do. Since I was more or less taken control of by the thing. How am I supposed to forget that?"

"Okay, that was a dumb thing to ask."

"Well, we're agreeing on that," Nahir replied. "So, let me guess. You're uneasy because you remember a certain bet that was made and you're trying to bring it up as a reminder."

"Okay, wow," he said, mock sarcastically. "That sounded so much better than the way I was going to broach it."

"It was just a guess," she replied. "But, you're easy to read. Like a book."

"No comment about me being thick coming up?" he wondered, raising an eyebrow. "I'm surprised."

"You expect too many bad things from me," she replied. "So, what are you...?"

"That date..." he said. "You over those traumatic experiences yet?"

"Just about," she replied. "So, when you want to do it?"

"How's tomorrow night for you?"

"Barring an unexpected monster attack," Nahir said, smiling at him. "I don't have anything on my schedule."

"Terrific," he replied, returning the smile. "So... I'll let you know what's happening tomorrow."

"Okay then," she said. "I look forward to it."

* * *

"This is..." Meredith muttered, looking down at the figure below them. "What did you do to her? Who was she?"

"Some wandering coordinator that we grabbed up off the streets," Copper told her. "Nobody missed her, we haven't heard anything on the law enforcement front."

"Helped out by the fact that we had her write a bogus letter to her family," Fuller said. "Under persuasion of course."

"That was your part of the project?" Harley asked. "Random kidnapping? Suddenly you look a whole lot less important than the rest of us."

"Everyone had their own role to contribute to this," Dennis growled. "That was rather an important part. Get a suitable test subject."

"It wasn't easy actually," Copper remarked. "Couldn't just grab anyone. Had to have specific readings..."

"Pre-requisites," Fuller confirmed. "We scanned about twenty people a night before finding her. And believe me, it's not easy to wander around sneakily when you look like this."

Upon saying this, she rounded away onto Noland. Loudly admonishing the former Frontier Brain.

"When are you going to work on those holographic projectors that can make us look normal again."

"Probably never," Noland replied. "I don't need them. I'll spend most of my time in the lab if need be."

"I can manage in disguise," Meredith said, looking over to Fuller. "But then again, no surprise that I can pull it off better than you. Because..."

"Disguise is a good look for you," Fuller snapped. "Because the less we can see of you, the better."

"Bitch fight!" Jake called, more out of hope than expectation. Both Fuller and Meredith shooting dark looks at him, both apparently wanting to claw him to pieces.

"Anyway," Dennis said, drawing back their attention. "We're almost ready to activate the Apex project. All it takes is..."

"For me to hit the button," Arbok interrupted, holding up a remote. "Because, we built her that way. Coated her bones with an indestructible metal, added some cybernetic upgrades to the vital organs to cope with it, healed the wounds with energy from the Genesis Book and then had Harley inject her with his venom and Jake send the powers of darkness running through her. All in all, we now have the Apex."

"What are you waiting for?" Dennis asked, annoyed. "Someone to burst into applause?"

"Just setting the atmosphere up," his henchmen replied, punching the button. The figure on the table instantly sitting up and looking around. Getting off the table, she began to take in more of her surroundings.

"Suddenly, I don't feel so ugly," Meredith commented, sarcastically.

"Me neither," Harley agreed. "I don't know what the dear was like before, but..."

One half of Apex's face was entirely machine. A huge red eye in one of the sockets, while the other half of the face seemed to be that of a Mew. Although, it did have one horn made of organic matter rising up out of the top of its head, while another horn, this one metallic could be seen on the metal half of the face. The body looked like a Mew's, but it was covered in black fur and the arms and legs looked more like a Machamps than those belonging to a Mew. At the end of the arms were Weavile claws, while the tail behind her resembled the rear end of a Seviper.

"Our monsters are not meant to be beautiful," Mitchell pointed out. "But, this is almost certainly the ultimate destroying machine."

"Project Apex activated," the figure said, in a low voice, responding to his words. "Ready and awaiting instructions."

"Your instructions..." Dennis remarked, a smirk on his face as Apex turned towards him. "Those will come in time. For now. Train."

"At once, sir."

* * *

"So, what are you going to...?" Ryan started to ask, before pausing. Almost like a thought had hit him. "Is that the reason that you arranged it for tomorrow night? So you've got the rest of today and most of tomorrow to think of something."

"Oh, I've already got most of it planned out," Luke replied. "She likes food from Sinnoh..."

"Not surprised, it's awesome," Ryan said. "Sinnoh food..."

"... Are you kidding?" Duo asked. "Johto food rules everything. It could beat Sinnoh food with both hands tied behind its back and heavily hung over."

"No, it makes you hung over with the amount of alcohol that they put in it," Xavier pointed out. "While Hoenn food is healthy, tasty and easy on the stomach."

"Yeah, I don't think that you're going to find anyone to agree with you there," Luke commented. "Having been raised in the Orange Islands... It's a lot of water type Pokémon meat, like Goldeen. It's quite easy to get hold of. This will be an interesting change."

"It's not like you've never eaten anything else though," Xavier remarked. "I've seen you do so in the Aquabase."

"I never said that I wouldn't," he replied. "But, Sinnoh food... Safe bet."

"Where are you going?" Ryan wondered. "Just out of..."

"Taste Of Sinnoh," Luke said. "It's a new place that opened up in Agueros Town. A friend of a friend recommended it."

"Ah," Ryan replied. "Well, let me know what it's like, I wouldn't mind having some home cuisine at some point."

"Well, don't show up tomorrow," Luke said. "Otherwise, I'll play Piebola with your head."

* * *

"She's like a machine," Harley remarked, folding his arms as the group watched Apex train in the makeshift area. Battling against the Dogbots that Noland had rustled up at short notice, she was easily toying with them.

"Technically, she is at least thirty percent cyborg," Mitchell pointed out. "So, that's why that looks like that."

"If I wanted to hear your opinion, I'd have asked," he sneered. "Just making a point."

"Proficient in several forms of unarmed combat," Noland said. "Deadly in even more."

"So, what's her weakness?" Jake asked, coming over while eating a sandwich. Watching her attack with violent intent, throwing out a fist to take down a Dogbot with scant concern. "Assuming that she has one?"  
"Why would she have one?" Arbok asked, leaning over. "Assuming that we gave her one."

"In case she pulled the same act that the Cobra's did," Jake replied. "And turned on you."

"Her weakness," Arbok said. "It's in her head. A control chip. Remove that and she starts to shut down. Whether it would be enough to stop her on its own is debateable, but it would definitely render her weakened."

"Good thing it's surrounded by an almost impenetrable metal," Noland commented. "Otherwise, we'd be worried."

"So, if it's surrounded by that, how are you going to get to it if she turns on you."

"Self destruct button."  
"Oh."

* * *

"Are you really sure that you want to go through with it?" Katie asked, glancing down at the yellow ranger. "Because..."

"Two things," Nahir replied. "One, it was your idea, and two, I'm not going to back out of it."

"Yeah, it was my suggestion, but you didn't have to agree to it."

"Because I never thought that I'd lose that bet."

"That's the chance you take when you gamble," Katie remarked, stretching out. Wincing slightly at the bruises that still marked her body. "Which is the reason that I don't do it."

"Isn't what you did recently with taking that mutating serum gambling with your life?" Nahir wondered. "If you want to get technical about it."

"Actually, that was more accidental," the red ranger replied. "But, it's not about me. More about you. And Luke."

"You should have seen him earlier," Nahir said, with a smile. "When he came up to me with the reminder. He was so nervous. It was kinda cute in its own way."

"Well, you never know," Katie commented. "You go on a date with him, it might go well. Maybe you end up on another with him."

"Anything's possible, I suppose," Nahir replied. "Some more possible than others. I mean... That wouldn't be the worse thing..."

"Nahir, how do you really feel about him?" Katie wondered. "As a whole?"

"Honestly?" she asked. "I don't know. I mean, sometimes he can be so annoying. He can open his mouth and be really callous..."

"Yeah, I do hang around with him, you know. It is something I have noticed."

"But, other times he can be a really nice guy. Really balanced and sweet. If I knew which Luke was constantly going to be there..."

"Well, that's the chance you have to take," Katie said. "You need to find out the real Luke and decide how you feel about him."

"Oh goody," Nahir replied, the resignation in her voice. Before perking up slightly. "Then again, it could be good. I mean, what's the worse that could happen?"

* * *

"Hmmm..." Dennis said, glancing over to Arbok. His scientist toying with the remote control for Apex as he returned the gaze. "What do you think?"

"About what?" Arbok wondered, tossing it up into the air before catching it in one hand. "What do you...?"

"You think Apex is ready to go out and start causing chaos yet?"

"She's been training for over a day," Arbok replied. "She'd probably have been ready to go after four hours."

Gritting his teeth together, Dennis closed his eyes for a moment. Almost desperately trying to avoid venting his fury at the scientist. A losing battle, he quickly realised.

"Then, why didn't you tell us that earlier?" he roared. Kicking the wall across from him, his boot leaving a dent in the plaster. "Other than making us wait this long?"  
"Well, I've valued the time that we've all had together as an evil group of mutants," Arbok said. "If that's wrong, then I don't want to be right."

Letting out another frustrated growl of pain, Dennis made a move towards Arbok. Almost ready to throttle him in his anger, something that hadn't escaped the scientists notice, he quickly held the remote up.

"Quick reminder that I've got control of Apex," he said. "So..."

"Just set her loose," Dennis muttered, regaining his composure. "Preferably somewhere that the rangers won't be able to get to easily. Before I really lose my control with you."

"I don't know why you're mad with me," Arbok protested. "I mean... You never did ask. If you'd asked me for a progress report, I'd have told you the truth. So, where do you want me to sic her?"

"How about Agueros Town?"

* * *

"I'm just amazed that you remembered I like food from Sinnoh," Nahir commented, taking a bite of the Roast Staravia she had ordered. "Got to confess that..."

"Haven't you worked out that I'm full of surprises yet?" he replied, grinning across the table at her. "Because..."

"There you go again," she said. "Trying to be mysterious and smooth."

"What do you mean trying?" he replied, continuing the grin. "I never do things less than one hundred percent."

"I can tell," the yellow ranger remarked. "Just... Relax. You seem tense."

"Well, it comes with the territory," he said, glancing down to the morpher at his wrist. Partly hidden under his sleeve. "Any moment now, I can't help but get the feeling that something's going to come up and..."

"You're not expecting it, are you?"

"No, not at all," he replied, suddenly appearing slightly flustered by the suggestion. "In fact, I'm hoping that... You're not, are you?"

"Of course not," she said. "I mean... Personally, I think it's going well. A bit awkward in places, but on the whole..."

"Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?" he asked. "Just something I've wondered about. How come that you travelled around the region for all that time and never got at least a little bit of an urge to at least try battling. And if you don't like battling, how come you got hold of your Glameow?"

"Well, that's an interesting thing to ask," she replied. "My older brother's a pretty good trainer, so I guess I thought that there wasn't much chance of matching him with his achievements. I guess part of that put me off. And... Well, Ashei was a gift from him actually."

"So, the whole reason that you don't like battling is because you're worried that you won't be as good as your brother?"

"I never said that, you're reading in between the lines."

"Is it true though?"

"Possibly. The main thing is that... I guess it's a case of you see some trainers get so worked up about battling. They scream and shout, heckle their opponents... I don't have a problem with the passion, but... Something about it says that it's not for me."

"You don't have to justify it to me," he said. "I was just wondering."

"So, how come you didn't?" she asked. "You've not got any elder siblings who you were worried about besting you, were you?"

"No, it was more under orders of the old man," Luke replied. "It was pretty much a case of go to the top quality boarding school, stay there for several years and then go work for him. Which I did until Dominic more or less kidnapped me. Good thing Dad's a reasonable guy and recognised that it was an important calling. Since the region getting destroyed is bad for business."

"Really, you went to boarding school?"  
"Yeah, you didn't know that?"

"You might have mentioned it, but I think I forgot," Nahir replied, a little sheepishly. "So, what was that like?"

"I got used to it," he said. "It took a while, but I coped."

With those last words, something clicked in Nahir's head. Almost a realisation, some sort of answer as to the riddle that was the man sat across from her.

"Wow," she muttered. "How long were you there?"

"Nearly ten years," he replied, softly. "I only really got to see..."

Before he could finish, something hit the side of the restaurant. Repeatedly going for the action, striking the building several times, everyone present looked up to see plaster falling from the ceiling.

"Earthquake?" the yellow ranger wondered. "Is that... Even possible?"

"Anything's possible," Luke replied, seconds before half of the wall came crashing in on itself. To reveal Apex stood behind it, the cybernetic organism instantly making a move inside.

"We should be so lucky," Nahir commented, hearing a waiter let out a scream before turning to run. Dropping the tray he was carrying to the ground, the contents of it remaining unsullied. A lone pie there.

"What do you think?" Luke asked, as Apex moved into the building. Making to attack anyone who came close to her, throwing a screaming woman against the wall, she made her way through. "Morph and kick ass."

"What, in here?" Nahir wondered, rolling her eyes. "Come on. Need to find so way of..."

"Excuse me one moment," Luke replied, getting up into the aisle. "I'm going to just try something."

Taking a run up, the purple ranger jumped up into the air and hit Apex with a flying kick. Instantly bouncing off, he hit the ground and rolled. Apex apparently not having taken any damage from his attack, something he noticed as he scrambled back.

"What were you trying to prove there?" Nahir wondered. "Just out of interest."

"Seeing if that would slow it down," he replied, getting to his feet. "Obviously not. Your move."

"Bet I can slow it down more than you," Nahir retorted, glancing at the pie on the ground. "What was that word again? Piebola?"

Instantly moving, she jumped over to the fallen tray, taking a kick at the plate with the pie on it. Watching it sail through the air, splattering against the monster's face. Hot apple dripping down the metal skin the living half of the face glaring at the yellow ranger.

"Where did you hear that word?" Luke wondered, as they started to make a break for the emergency exit.

"I heard Ryan yelling at someone about it earlier," she replied. "Something along the lines of, what does that mean? And there may have been some insults at the end."

"Anyway," Luke said, pushing the door of the emergency exit open. "Time to bail. She looks annoyed with you."

"I can't tell," Nahir quipped, as she vanished through the door out onto the fire escape. "That pie on her head makes it kinda difficult to take her seriously."

* * *

Landing in the alley, the two of them started to bring up their morphers.

"You think the others are on their way?" Luke wondered. "Because, that thing... It's strong."

"Awww, are you worried?" Nahir asked. "If a little pie can slow it down, then..."

"Nice shot by the way," the purple ranger commented. "But, I think it's going to..."

Right on cue, something heavy hit the ground behind them. Instantly spinning around to see what it was, Luke was hit with a powerful punch. Hearing him crash into the ground, Nahir spun around to see Apex stood there. The remains of apple sauce on her face, the cyborg made a move for her. As the blow came out towards the yellow ranger, Nahir ducked. Hitting out into her stomach with a punch of her own. Just like when Luke had attacked earlier, the strike didn't faze her at all. Recovering from her own attack, Apex reached down to grab Nahir by the throat. Easily picking her up off the ground...

... Only for a flurry of laser fire to ring out into the back of the cyborg. Although it didn't seem to bother her with the lack of damage, it did force her into dropping the yellow ranger. Instantly getting back up to see the other rangers coming onto the scene with their blasters out, Luke and Nahir brought their own morphers out.

"Genesis Overload!"

Morphing into their ranger suits, the two of them went to join the rest of the rangers.

"You guys okay?" Katie asked, lowering the Heat Blasters. "Seems like we got here just in time."

"That's typical," Duo commented, shaking his head. "You spend all that time planning and..."

"Anyway, are we going to destroy this thing?" Nahir asked, interrupting the black ranger. "Because..."

"Way ahead of you there," Xavier said, bringing out his Tidal Trident. The other rangers going for their weapons as well. "Because..."

"Careful," Luke warned. "This thing is tough."

"We'll have to be tougher then," Ryan remarked, hefting his Fauna Hammer. "Let's do this!"

As the green ranger let out his battle cry, he and Xavier leaped forward. Crashing their weapons against Apex, the cyborg easily blocked them with her arms. Forcing the weapons back, she went on towards the two rangers, hurling them away with ease. As they hit the wall, Luke and Nahir went in with their own weapons. The Psycho Spear came steaming into the flesh part of Apex, the point penetrating it. Yet, it didn't seem to affect her, the cyborg yanking it out and using the blunt end to throw Luke back. As Nahir swung out with her Storm Staff, Apex blocked every single one of her attacks. Even managing to recover enough to block Duo's attack as he came racing in with the Shadow Sabre. Forcing the two of them back, she turned to be greeted by a storm of fire from the Heat Blasters. Bringing her hand up, she directed a blast of psychic type energy towards Katie, hurling the red ranger back against the wall of the alley.

"Unimpressive," she said, coldly looking around her to the rangers on the ground. "Threat. Negative."

"That's it!" Katie yelled, punching the ground. "I've had it with super powered women who aren't me."

"Seems like there's rather a lot of them lately," Luke muttered. "I mean... Can't the person coming up with this be original?"

"There has to be a way to destroy her," Xavier said, looking around. "I mean... There has to be."

"What gets me," Duo remarked. "Is how you tagged her as a women. Normally, I've got a sixth sense for..."

Interrupting him, Apex brought her fist down into the ground. Unleashing a powerful shock wave through the earth, the blast enough to send the grounded rangers up into the air, before coming bouncing down again.

"Man, we're screwed," Ryan muttered. "She's too strong."

"I highly doubt that we're going to get help from somewhere," Luke muttered, sarcastically. "That would be..."

"Preparing to eliminate Poké Rangers," Apex said, softly. "Elimination must be absolute. Moving in to..."

Racing in from out of nowhere, it struck her. A blaze of white energy, striking the cyborg several times. Each time seeming to deal more damage to the machine.

"What the hell is that thing?" Nahir asked, as the white energy continued to surround Apex. Rising up, it finally pierced the cyborg's head. That seemingly enough to destroy the monster, it instantly crashing to the ground.

"I don't know," Katie said, taking a step closer to the mysterious white energy. "But... It feels cold. What are you?"  
Even as she brought a hand up, the ball of energy vanished from sight. Leaving just the six of them alone in the alley with the downed Apex.

"Whatever it is," Luke said. "I think we just caught a huge break."

* * *

"Oh damn," Dennis snapped, looking at the on screen image in front of him. "This is unacceptable. Why can I not get a win here?"

"Karma?" Arbok asked, quietly. Not loud enough for the head Coppinger to hear him. "I'm sure the universe will soon start evening itself out, sir."

"Whatever, it's time to use this," Dennis said, opening the Genesis Book. A ball of energy emerging from it before vanishing.

* * *

"You've just got to wonder..." Duo started to say, before seeing the ball of energy fall down through the air and hit Apex. Instantly getting her back up onto her feet and causing her to grow to a giant size.

"Let's hope she's less invulnerable in that form," Luke said. "Time to transform!"

At his command, the six of them grew into a larger size, quickly morphing into their Eevee forms. The purple ranger giving out another command, as his new form of Espeon flicked its tail in anticipation.

"Overload Zords! Megazord formation!"

Under the command, the six Zords turned into their robot forms and began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbs and tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. As the Megazord stood up straight, it stretched out its arms.

"Okay, let's hit this thing hard and fast," Katie said, activating the controls in front of her. Directing the Megazord into attacking Apex, hitting the Cyborg with a punch. As she reacted to the attack, she hit the Overload Megazord with a ball of psychic energy. Forcing it back, Katie hit the controls to command the Megazord into striking a kick into her stomach. As Apex doubled over slightly, Xavier gave a command.

"Genesis Blaster!" the blue ranger shouted. The compartment at the side of the Vaporeon leg opening up, the Megazord grabbing up the weapon.

"What do you think?" Luke asked, shooting a glance over to the other rangers. "Any suggestions on what to lock and load with?"

"She's part Mew," Duo commented. "Go with Dark Pulse."

"Actually, I'd suggest Hyper Beam," Ryan offered. "It's way more destructive which might be just the thing in these circumstances."

"In these circumstances?" Nahir asked. "I miss normal circumstances."

"Hyper Beam it is," Katie said, hitting the button. A burst of bright orange energy erupting out of the barrel, screaming through the air towards Apex. Smashing a hole through her stomach, sparks erupting out of the wound as the cyborg let out a mechanical groan of pain. Right on cue, her wounds automatically repaired themselves.

"Should have gone with Dark Pulse," Duo commented, slightly petulantly. "What was the point of that."

"Need to find a weak spot," Xavier said. "When the white light attacked earlier... The head. Need to go for the head."

"And we're back to zombie flick madness," Luke commented. "We need to recharge before we cap her in the head."

"Then I guess we're going to have to take another tactic," Nahir said. "Grab her by the head and we'll blast a Psycho Thunder Strike straight into her brain. Even if it doesn't get through, we should short circuit the thing."

"That's easier said than done," Katie said. "But, let's go for it."

Moving the Megazord into an attack position, the arms came up to grab Apex by the head. Sparks of both electrical and psychic energy instantly shattered away into the system, Apex's eyes started to flicker under the duress before the Megazord was blown back by the sudden explosion within.

"We did something..." Ryan commented. "Maybe..."

"I think it's time for the finisher," Katie said, hitting the buttons in front of her. "While she's defenseless. Genesis Staff."

At her order, the weapon appeared in the hands of the Megazord. Instantly being swept up and across by the machine, crashing against the body of Apex.

"Element Overload!" all six rangers yelled, the blade at the tip of the weapon starting to glow with energy. Sweeping out, it slashed against the cyborg six times, each cut glowing with a singular burst of light. Red, black, blue, green, yellow and purple, throwing her back to the ground where she exploded into thousands of pieces.

"Another one bites the dust," Duo quipped, looking at the flames on the ground, twinkling in the night sky. "Rangers a lot, Coppingers not as many."

* * *

"Pity that the restaurant was totalled," Luke said, looking up at the night sky above them. He and Nahir having retreated to a hillside outside Agueros Town. "But, apart from the getting attacked by an almost indestructible mutant..."

"This... This was good, actually," Nahir muttered, leaning her head back against his stomach. "Thanks for a wonderful time, Luke."

"No problem," he replied. "That's what I'm here for."

For a moment, the silence reigned out. The two of them looking at each other for that moment, before their heads started to move closer...

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Ah, thought I'd get that Donphan in the room out of the way.**

**But, what does it mean for the love-hate relationship between them? Who knows, answers soon.**

**And the return of the white light. Which will be revealed next chapter... Just in case you haven't worked it out by now.**

**Anyway, thanks for the reviews. All welcomed and appreciated.**

**Oh, and on piebola... Long story... **

**Next one... Glace In The Hole: Part One. Preview below, up soon.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Please! Apex is replying today.**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Two, Glace In The Hole: Part One, preview.**

**Dennis: That's it!**

**?: It has come**

**Arbok: This monster will counter all of the rangers strengths. They won't beat him.**

**?: Time to reveal myself.**

**Katie: It's too strong.**

**?: From the shadows...**

**Duo: None of our weapons work!**

**?: I move to protect you.**

**Nahir: Another ranger!**

**?: White Glaceon Ranger!**

* * *

**Coming soon.**


	22. Glace In The Hole: Part One

Chapter Twenty Two. Glace In The Hole: Part One.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As Luke finally called in the winnings of his previous bet with Nahir, he decided the best way to make the date a success. With the help of both Xavier and later Duo, he continued to delibarate on it. All while the Coppingers had temporarily regrouped to discuss a top secret project that they had cooperated on. Project Apex. As Nahir agreed to the date, Luke decided to take her to a place where they could get Sinnoh food. All while Apex was activated and put through a training program, eventually attacking the two rangers at the restaurant. As they escaped, Nahir kicking a pie at the cyborg's head in the process, the other rangers arrived. Yet, they were all easily beaten by Apex, only for the mysterious white light to show up on the scene and help them out by taking her down. As they managed to finish her off with the Megazord, Luke and Nahir finished their date on a hillside. With an ambiguous conclusion..._

* * *

Letting out a ferocious howl of laughter, the monster attacked. Sweeping out with his sword, he threw Katie back through the air, sending her landing on the ground in the alley. Bringing both Heat Blasters back up, she quickly sent a powerful barrage of fire into his face, only for him to completely block the attack.

"That's not going to cut it," he snickered. "You can't stop me. Nothing can stop me!"

Uttering a frustrated growl, Luke got up to swing out at him with his Psycho Spear. His colours turning from grey to black, the attack not really doing any damage as it crashed against his body. Rolling his eyes, he threw Luke back against the wall, roaring in delight.

"Time to say your farewells," he taunted "To all of you!"

"Stop!"

At the sound of the voice, everyone looked up. Seeing the white light at the opposite end of the alley, the strangely familiar voice coming out of the sparkling shape.

"It has come," the shape continued, resignation in the female voice. "Just in time. Time to reveal myself. From the shadows, I move to protect you."

Her voice fading away, the energy expanded away into the shape of a figure. A figure wearing a ranger suit not too unlike the ones that the rest of them were wearing. The colour of the suit was white with a light blue trim, while the boots, belt and gloves were the same colour. Her costume had a skirt, while there was an ice type symbol on her chest. Her helmet was white, with Glaceon ears, eye visor and a mouthpiece.

"White Glaceon Ranger!" the figure exclaimed, looking over to Scaledon. "You mess with my friends and..."

"Another ranger!" Nahir exclaimed, as the new arrival took a step towards Scaledon. Her hands reaching up to her helmet, making to remove the object.

"I'm going to give you one chance to walk away," she warned, finally removing the helmet. To reveal...

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. Lightning crackles in the background, followed by rain and then fire. The Psychic, Grass and Dark symbols appear behind them._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_The rangers arrive on Ragnar Island. Rock shows them to the temple._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige sticks her head through a wall, smiling. Paige Martinez. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The six rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord begins to form. It fires the Genesis Blaster._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

Twenty four hours earlier...

* * *

"It's most interesting," Bill commented. "But, we've been through this before. I can't tell you what the source of white energy is. Not from a few blurry video pictures and some less than detailed eyewitness accounts."

"But those are our eyewitness accounts," Xavier said, slightly annoyed. "Are you questioning our reliability?"

"Or our honesty?" Duo wondered. "Or our intelligence."

"Not really," Bill said. "I think you're all honest, it's just that... It's not a lot to make a hypothesis on. I deal in facts, and I'm missing quite a bit of... Scratch that, a lot of data to decide what it is. Plus, a living working sample of..."

"Oh come on," Paige interrupted. "You got a lucky break at least twice, possibly thrice... When have I used the word thrice before? Anyway, you're instantly trying to run around and find out what it is. Don't you think that whatever that strange and unknown white energy is, it'll all be revealed in time?"

"Hey, if there's an ally out there," Luke said. "I'm all for taking all the help we can get. There are more of them than there are of us. Every single time they attack, they hurl something strange and dangerous at us. If getting that help tips it back in our favour, then..."

"It is traditional for a sixth ranger to join the group," Ryan pointed out. "Maybe..."

"We already have six," Katie pointed out. "So, that metaphor doesn't really work..."

"Seven then..." Ryan said. "I would point out that there are seven evolutions of Eevee. Only six of them have been..."

"That's all we'd need," Paige commented. "Another person hanging around on this boat."

"What's up with you?" Duo wondered. "That ghost feeling finally getting to you?"

"No, it's been getting to me for the last few months," Paige replied, dryly. "Now, I'm starting to accept it. And it depresses the crap out of me."

"Okay..." Katie said. "Now, I really feel the need to change the subject. How goes that thing that you were working on?"

"The busted up glider?" Bill asked. "Well... It's pretty smashed up still. I've been ironing out the dents, the engines are fracked and the weapons are out of ammo. I still need to work out how to load them up."

"Apart from that, it's fine," Luke quipped.

* * *

"That's it!" Dennis growled, punching the desk in front of him. Furiously angry with the video pictures of Apex's final battle in front of him. "This is unacceptable. We need to get rid of them so that we can find the artefacts in this region unhindered."

"But, we've tried several different plans already," Arbok protested. "Apex was supposed to be foolproof. Or at the very least, idiot proof."

"The problem wasn't that we couldn't defeat the rangers," Dennis said, thoughtfully. "More that our plan was sabotaged by that strange white light."

"How can we get rid of that when we have no idea what it is?" Arbok asked. "Because... I don't think that it has its own website."

"It's not the first time that it has appeared," Dennis replied. "It seems to appear whenever the rangers are in serious trouble. So, let's put them in as much trouble as possible. Lure the thing out and see where it takes us."

"What's your plan, sir?" his scientist asked.

"I have an idea for a monster," Dennis answered, his evil smirk growing by the second. "This monster will counter all of their rangers strengths. They won't beat him."

"Him?" Arbok wondered. "I mean... You've already got all this planned out in your head. What if he doesn't turn out to be exactly what you have planned?"

"I think I'm getting the hang of working the Genesis Book," the Coppinger leader replied. "I did use it to create the Cobra Rangers and..."

"You have to wonder if the white light would show up in that instance," Arbok mused. "There aren't any guidelines to dealing with something that you dont' have any idea as to what is. Not in this sense anyway, just in the conventional sense of lab conditions."

"Does your lab conditions tell me how to achieve the ultimate goal of getting the Genesis Book fully powered up and rewriting the world the way that sh... I need it to be."

"All I'm saying is that until we actually put a few field tests into practice, we won't know," Arbok said. "What if we lure the Cobra's into a confrontation with the rangers and see where that goes?"

"There's just one problem with your theory," Dennis replied. "What makes you think that's going to happen?"

"The art of tipping the scales. If it doesn't show up during a Cobra attack, we go with your ultimate monster plan."

"This had better work."

* * *

"Ah..."

"So..."

"How's it going?"

"Pretty good, yeah, you?"

"Can't complain. Well, I can, but nobody listens. Or cares."

"Wow," Xavier remarked, looking over to where Luke and Nahir were stood talking. "This couldn't get more awkward."

"There's always room for more awkward," Duo commented. "Besides, all we know is that on that date, the restaurant was totalled by a cyborg. Kinda gives it a strange scale on which to judge it."

"Well, we don't know what happened after," Xavier said, before the two of them turned around to look at the two rangers with a mixture of anger and annoyance.

"Can you guys do that somewhere else?" Nahir asked. "We're trying to have a private conversation."

"We were in here first," Duo pointed out. "But, I guess that..."

Not finishing, the two of them made for the exit. Leaving the yellow and purple rangers alone in the room.

"It's less awkward now," Luke commented. "But, not by much. So..."

"Before anything else," Nahir said. "I just want to say again that it was nice, I saw a side of you that... Well, a side that I didn't know existed. And... It was sweet. All I'm saying is that if you want to do it again, I wouldn't be unhappy with the idea."

At the words, Luke's eyes lit up, just for a moment before he regained his composure.

"Likewise," he replied, slowly. "But... Well, we were interrupted by a murderous cyborg last time. Kinda ruined the moment. I'd take bets on that happening at least once more. So, here's my suggestion. Wait until after we deal with the Coppingers."

"I guess... If that's what you want," the yellow ranger replied. "Doesn't seem like you to choose the sensible thing to do."

"Yeah, I'm surprised with myself too," Luke said. "Plus, if it doesn't... Never mind."

Even as Nahir looked to ask what it was he had been about to say, the alarms went off. Instantly alerting the two of them.

"Guess duty calls," Luke said, heading for the door. "Point proved."

"You do know that other rangers have managed it in the past," Nahir commented, following him through the exit. "And possibly in the future."

"Something to think about though, isn't it."

* * *

"What joys have we got now," Ryan asked, looking over at the screen in front of them. An oval of blue energy overlapping the image of Waterfall Shores on the monitor.

"Genesis energy in a place that should be familiar to you all," Bill commented. "Waterfall Shores."

"Interesting coincidence," Xavier said. "Let's get this show on the road and see what sort of ass kicking it needs."

"Or they need," Katie said. "Could be anything."

"Okay, let's do it!" Duo exclaimed, as the six of them brought their morphers up.

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

"This is it," Nahir remarked, the six of them looking around for any sign of the disturbance that Bill had found. "Whatever it is."

"Tell me that this is the place, Bill," Katie said, into her wrist. "Because..."

"This is the place, Bill," the PokéManiac replied, slightly sarcastically. "You see anything?"

"What is with everyone lately?" Duo asked. "Paige was been snappier than usual, Bill tries sarcasm and we haven't seen Lance for a while."

"Really, he not tell you where he was going?" Bill asked. "He had to head back to Johto for a few days, but he said he'd be back."

"I thought he was ill and confined to his cabin," Ryan remarked, the six of them moving into the alley. "But, I was..."

His words trailing off, the sound of something at the roof of the buildings above them drawing his attention, the green ranger glanced up into the air to take a look.

"Doubt it's going to be up there," Luke remarked, dryly. "Unless the thing's invisible."  
"Do not even joke about that," Katie warned. Before the sounds on the roof grew even more, the rangers looking up to see the six Cobra Rangers jumping down towards them. Throwing themselves aside, they saw the evil rangers land across from them.

"Oh terrific," Xavier said. "These guys again."

"Not seen them for a while," Nahir quipped. "Not since two of them had their clocks cleaned by Jake and co."

"You haven't got help with you this time, red ranger!" Cobra Red snarled. "You and me! Now!"

"Guess this was the source of that energy," Duo said. "Let's get them!"

Rushing forward, he threw out a snap kick towards Cobra Black. Taking the evil ranger by surprise, he managed to drive the black clad figure back slightly, before following up with a left hook to the face. Recovering almost instantly, Cobra Black blocked the third attack and tossed Duo to the ground, kicking him in the stomach. Across from the two of them, Nahir went for Cobra Yellow, the evil yellow ranger hissing in anger at her opponent. As Nahir threw a punch towards her stomach, she took the blow in her stride, grabbing the yellow ranger's wrist to flip her to the ground. Recovering faster than she expected, Nahir landed on both legs, going into a reversal of the motion. As Cobra Yellow landed on her knees, she took a roundhouse kick to the back of the head. Meanwhile, Xavier ducked under a double fist strike from Cobra Blue, moving in to tackle him. As he slammed the figure against the wall, the blue ranger hit him twice in the stomach, hearing Cobra Blue groan before pushing him back. As the few feet of distance opened up between the two of them, Cobra Blue jumped up and struck him with a perfectly placed spin kick, the blow hitting Xavier square in the stomach. Heavily landing on the stone ground of the alley, Xavier brought his Genesis Blaster up out of the holster, firing several times into the body of the evil ranger. Although not causing much damage on the surface of it, the momentary pause allowed him time to recover and spring to his feet. Summoning the Tidal Trident, he went back on the offensive, throwing an attack at Cobra Blue that the evil ranger had to scramble to avoid. Elsewhere, close to the entrance of the alley, Luke was trading blows with Cobra Purple. As she tried to grab him, he spun away and grabbed her outstretched arm to hold her in place. Starting to protest, she felt his foot come up and connect with her stomach, the blow causing her to recoil.

"You'll pay for that!" she roared, rounding upon him with a Poison Jab to the upper body. As the purple ranger hit the ground, she closed back in on him with another attack. Only for him to roll away, coming back up with a sweep kick that caught her in the face. Buying enough time to get up, Luke heard Ryan fighting Cobra Green across from him. The green ranger trying to hit his evil counterpart with a jump kick, only for the Cobra to grab his leg and twist him down to the hard ground. Letting out a brief groan of pain, Ryan managed to recover in time to jerk himself into a crouching position. Sweeping his leg out across the surface of the ground, Cobra Green leaped to evade the attack, a sarcastic laugh slipping from his mouth as the foot passed harmlessly underneath him.

"Not fast enough," he taunted, landing back on the ground. "And that is..."

Not hesitating, Ryan rose up from his position, his Fauna Hammer out. Crashing the blunt weapon straight into Cobra Green's face, he saw the blow send him staggering back, the evil ranger howling in agony as a crack appeared across his helmet.

"That is what?" he replied, the sarcasm not lost on Cobra Green whose fists began to glow with a purple energy before he came back into the fray.

In the final area of the fight, Katie and Cobra Red stared each other down for a moment. Before both of them reacted, the evil ranger hurling both hands up while Katie went for her Heat Blasters. Both weapons coming up, the stream of fireballs came racing out through the air, Cobra Red countering with a flurry of Poison Sting strikes thrown from his hands. As the two attacks collided in the centre of the alley, both rangers quickly lowered their weapons before rushing towards each other. Katie throwing the first attack, Cobra Red ducked under her roundhouse kick to rise up with a powerful uppercut that broke through her defenses to send her reeling. As he made to follow up, she blocked his Poison Jab towards her. Holding his wrists with both hands, her helmet inches from his.

"Nice tricks," she commented, quietly. "Where you pull those from?"

"You think you're the only ones who get stronger every time you defeat a monster?" her evil counterpart demanded, using her as a springboard to slam both feet into her stomach and force her back. "I'm disappointed that you haven't worked that out by now."

"Well, I always was slow on the uptake," Katie quipped. Before jumping up, grabbing hold of the fire escape to send her feet against his neck. Instantly twisting him to the ground, where the wounded ranger let out a yelp of pain. "But, I get there eventually."

Getting back to his feet, Cobra Red staggered away to the other entrance of the alley. Quickly finding himself joined by the other Cobra Rangers.

"Another stalemate," Cobra Blue said, angrily. "This isn't over yet, rangers!"

"We will get stronger!" Cobra Yellow hissed. "And then..."

"We will destroy you!" Cobra Green snarled, as the six evil rangers vanished away in their beams of energy.

"Something I don't get," Duo commented, dusting the front of his ranger suit off. "When we first fought them, they easily beat us. We've probably got stronger since then, Cobra Red claims that they've gotten stronger as well. Probably from when they've hustled those monsters off us. Warpmax and co. So, how come it's an even fight now? Since they started off stronger..."

"You're worrying about that now?" Nahir asked, slightly bemused. "Or at all."

"Guess we just rule," Ryan quipped. "I think if Cobra Green had a face under there, I'd have made him cry."

"Whatever," Katie said, rubbing her stomach. "Let's just get back to the Silver Gyarados and see where we go from here?"

"What's up, 'boss'?" Xavier asked, making a surprisingly un-sarcastic air quote with his fingers. "You seem...?"

"This just seemed too random for anything," Katie replied. "They got here after we did. So, if they weren't here earlier, what caused the energy surge."

* * *

"Well, that failed," Arbok commented, looking at the video pictures in front of him. "Our plan of standing in that alley for thirty seconds before going away again worked. But, the white light didn't show up."

"Any theories as to why that plan didn't work?"

"Just that maybe, if that thing is watching every move that the rangers make, it didn't feel that they were in enough danger to warrant coming to help."

"Okay," Dennis said, opening a Poké Ball up to let a Rhyhorn appear on the ground in front of him and Arbok. "Time for the next plan. Time for Scaledon. I like the name Plan Scaledon, it sounds interesting."

"Scaledon?" Arbok asked. "That's... Interesting name. Just like the plan that..."

"The monster will be more than just interesting, Arbok," Dennis replied, taking out the Genesis Book. "Once it has risen, it will bring them down. Counter whatever they hurl at him."

Opening the book up, a cloud of gas erupted out across the Pokémon, the Rhyhorn letting out a moan of distress at what was starting to happen to him. As the remnants of the gas cleared, the two Coppingers took the chance to take their first look at the monster. Somewhere in the process, the Spikes Pokémon had evolved into Rhydon, the normally grey Pokémon now covered in green scales. While it still had the horn of the Rhydon, it instead had the face of a Kecleon. There was a Salamence headed sword at his waist

"Interesting," Arbok commented, before Scaledon's colouring switched to white. "What was..."

"My ability to protect against attack that the rangers throw at me," Scaledon replied, proudly. His voice loud and proud as he spoke.

"Which is?"

"As I said," Dennis interrupted. "I have guessed how to get the best out of the Genesis Book. Strong thoughts can have a positive effect on what you are trying to achieve in the end. I thought about the types of Pokémon that the rangers draw their powers from. Fire, dark, water, grass, electric and psychic. So, I wanted a monster that could change the surface of its skin to defend against those types of damge. Absorb them and grow stronger from the absorbed energy."

"Interesting thought," Arbok said. "I think I might be able to see a flaw..."

"Scaledon!" Dennis thundered. "Go out and engage the rangers. In a change of pace, I want you to engage the Megazord. Draw the power from its attacks and then return here. With that sort of power running through your system, there is no way that you can be beaten."

"Except by the white..." Arbok again tried to say, but Dennis had apparently decided to give up on listening. Scaledon vanishing away in a ball of energy.

"I think our imminent victory proposes a pre-victory celebration," he said. "Now, where'd I hide that bottle of Machampagne?"

"Screw it, I tried," Arbok muttered, turning to follow his boss.

* * *

"He said that he would like to continue, but after we defeat the Coppingers," Nahir said, she and Katie coming out of the showers. The two of them having been for a swim, choosing to use the showers close to the pool rather than trek back to their cabins. "I mean... Honestly, I can't weigh him up. I saw a part of him that night... He tried some psychology on me, managed to get something out about me, but I found out he spent nearly ten years at boarding school. Which might explain several things about him. The way he didn't seem to care about anything but himself..."

"A year ago, you could have said that about him," Katie pointed out. "Now, I think he cares about a whole lot more."

"The sarcasm, the inability to connect, the way he has to try and go against authority..."

"Apart from the sarcasm, that's all stuff in the past," Katie said, pointing it out again. "Although, I thought the going against authority was just guy rivalry which he used to have with Xavier."

"I mean, that explains a lot, if you think about it," the yellow ranger insisted. "And then there's me."

"What about you?" Katie wondered. "Where do you reckon into his life? Other than being a fellow ranger in two teams, and I assume that you'd class him as a friend."

"Of course I would," Nahir replied, before looking around. "He's not here, is he?"

"What in the showers?" Katie asked, rolling her eyes. "I think you've got more to worry about Duo in this situation. Honestly, somebody should invent some sort of x-ray glasses or something to..."

"Wait, is that something that I need to be worried about?" Nahir wondered, as the red ranger gave off a little laugh.

"Nah," she replied. "For all that he is, I doubt that he'd do that. Anyway, you were saying about you?"

"I don't want to sound vain or anything," the yellow ranger said. "But, I think that he likes me. A lot. All of that crap about wanting to wait until after we've beat the Coppingers... Seems that he's afraid to commit."

"Of course he is," Katie replied, smirking. "He's a guy."

Even as Nahir rolled her eyes at the lame use of stereotypical humour, the alarms started to go off.

"Again?" she asked, looking up. "This better not be another wild Pelipper chase."

* * *

"We've got a big ol' monster," Bill said, as the two female rangers ran out onto the bridge. "Where have you...?"

"Just got out of the shower," Katie replied. "Had to get dressed."

"What both of you at the same time?" Duo asked, holding a hand up. "Nice, high five someone?"

Reluctantly, Luke reached over to make the action. The black ranger still smirking as he looked over to the two of them.

"Been for a swim after the battle earlier with the Cobras," Nahir said. "Nothing sinister about that is there?"

"Never said that there was, did I?" Duo asked, shrugging.

"Well, not while they were here," Luke commented, wiping the smirk off his face. "Think you're all out of lewd comments now."

As the black ranger opened his mouth to protest, the look from Katie shut him up before he'd had the chance to say anything.

"We've got a giant monster," she said, bringing her morpher up. "Think it's time to go."

"Good luck, guys!" Paige called, over from the corner of the room. "Kick his ass."

"You seem to have perked up," Xavier commented, as he made to morph. "Good for you."

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

"Guess there's only one way to deal with this big guy," Katie said, as the six rangers quickly arrived on the scene. The giant figure of Scaledon above them, attacking the city of Waterfall Shores. "Time to transform!"

Right on cue, they grew to a giant size and morphed into their Eevee forms. Ready to go into battle against the monster, Katie gave another command.

"Overload Zords! Megazord formation!"

Under the command, the six Zords turned into their robot forms and began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbs and tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. As the Megazord stood up straight, it stretched out its arms.

"Let's go get him!" Nahir said, as Katie began to move the Overload Megazord towards the attacking Scaledon, the monster having noticed them.

"Ah, welcome to your doom!" he taunted, launching a Rock Blast towards the giant machine. The boulder shattering against the shoulder of the Overload Megazord, Katie had to jerk it back onto course. Only for Scaledon to rush in and strike out with his tail, the blow crashing into the stomach of the machine.

"So much for calm and cagey," Luke commented. "Which is how they usually play it. Oh well, Psycho Punch!"

At the purple ranger's command, the fist came up to home in on Scaledon. The monster's skin changing from white to black as the punch landed, a powerful laughing erupting out as he took no damage from the blow and retaliated with a strike to the Overload Megazord's face. Sparks screaming up across the metal, a crack being left in the windshield by the attack.

"Did that do anything?" Ryan asked. "It didn't seem to..."

"Think we might need another tactic," Xavier commented, dryly. Even as Scaledon spun to hit the robot with a Mega Kick, he was tapping away to enter his command. "Genesis Blaster! Now!"

Instantly, the weapon came up out of the compartment in the Vaporeon leg. Levelled at the monster by the huge robot, the blue ranger gave another order.

"Hydro Pump!" he shouted. "Now!"

The giant metal finger closing in around the trigger, a powerful stream of water roared from the barrel, gushing through the air towards Scaledon. The monster letting out another sarcastic laugh, as his skin colour changed from black to green. With the same results as before, the rangers could only watch in surprise as he shook the attack off and retaliated with a Fury Attack. Each strike from the horns ripping gaps within the chest armour of the machine, much to the surprise of the rangers.

"This is impossible!" Duo yelled. "What is this thing? Why aren't our attacks working?"

"It's held up against two so far," Katie said, hitting a series of buttons in front of her. "Let's see how well it holds up against this! Genesis Staff!"

At the red ranger's command, the weapon appeared in the hands of the huge robot. Instantly moving the controls, Katie directed it into slashing at Scaledon, some minor damage apparent on his body. Wounds that were immediately healed.

"Guess it's all or nothing," she muttered. "Element Overload!"

Giving the command, the tip of the blade began to glow with energy. As the six slashes began, Scaledon's colour changes increased. With the red energy slash running across his body, he turned blue. When the black one came, he turned light brown. To counter the blue one, he again turned green. To counter the green one, his skin shifted into a bright red colour. As the yellow one came in, he turned dark brown and finally he became black as the purple slash came in. The smoke clearing, he rose up to his full height to look the Overload Megazord in the eye.

"Guess it's nothing," he quipped. A sarcastic rephrasing of what Katie had said moments earlier. "For you anyway..."

His mouth bursting open, a multicoloured streak of energy erupted out from the cavernous depths, smashing straight into the Megazord. Explosions ringing out across the giant robot, as the rangers let out screams inside it. Before, the Overload Megazord began to fall and disassemble back into its original pieces.

* * *

Still screaming in terror as they hit the ground, the rangers instantly tried to pick themselves up.

"What just happened?" Ryan groaned, clutching at his side. "Ouch!"

"Think that was the equivalent of our Megazord getting trashed," Nahir said. "That hurts!"

"This is bad," Xavier moaned, as they heard the laughs of Scaledon above them. The sound slowly getting closer to them. Looking up, the six grounded rangers saw a normal sized monster watching them.

"Now, this fight's really going to get personal," he snickered. "Bring it on, rangers."

"You're going to pay for what you just did!" Katie warned, getting to her feet. "Let's get him, rangers. Weapons!"

Bringing their weapons out, the six of them began to advance on the monster. Scaledon laughing as he brought out his sword.

"Works for me," he said, as Luke came rushing in with the Psycho Spear to try and take him by surprise. Dodging the thrusts of the weapon, he struck out with the blunt side of the sword, going for the legs. As Luke hit the ground in pain, he took a kick to the back of the head, the attack downing him. Next, Xavier tried an attack with the Tidal Trident, Scaledon's colour switching to green as the attack bounced off his skin. Bringing his tail up, he easily batted the blue ranger aside, his colour changing to red as Ryan came in with the Fauna Hammer. Grabbing the end of the blunt weapon in one hand, he wrenched it away from the green ranger and hit him in the stomach with it. Ryan instantly going down, hard, before Scaledon dropped the weapon next to him and changed his colouring to dark brown as Nahir landed a pair of blows on him with the Storm Staff. As she had chosen to attack him from behind, his tail came up and nailed her in the face, instantly downing her. His colouring changing to blue, he next felt the barrage of fire attacks hit him in the back as Katie tried to attack from distance. Closing the gap, she tried a spin kick, only for him to take the blows easily. Snapping his head down, he hit her with a Horn attack. The attack instantly throwing her back, Duo coming in to try and take up the baton.

"It's too strong," the red ranger groaned, trying to pick herself up from where she had landed. "What is this thing?"

As he came crashing to the ground next to her, Duo's complaints came out in agreement.

"None of our weapons work!" he exclaimed, using the Shadow Sabre to push himself back up. A furious battle cry ripping from his mouth, he went back to attack Scaledon, the monster easily parrying his sword strikes and forcing him back. As he brought his own sword up again to strike Duo down, Katie leaped out onto the scene, blocking the attack with the Flareon Battle Rifle. Managing to push the blade back, she held the weapon up to his face. The barrel barely four inches away from his eyes.

"Whoops!" she taunted, pulling the trigger. "Flareon Fury!"

Before the ball of fire had even left the weapon, Scaledon had already changed his colour to blue. The ball of flames crashed into his face barely half a second later, the fires refracting all the way up around the makeshift battle arena. As the smoke cleared, it showed that he was completely unharmed by the attack.

Letting out a ferocious howl of laughter, Scaledon attacked. Sweeping out with his sword, he threw Katie back through the air, sending her landing on the ground in the alley. Bringing both Heat Blasters back up, she quickly sent a powerful barrage of fire into his face, only for him to completely block the attack.

"That's not going to cut it," he snickered. "You can't stop me. Nothing can stop me!"

Uttering a frustrated growl, Luke got up to swing out at him with his Psycho Spear. His colours turning from grey to black, the attack not really doing any damage as it crashed against his body. Rolling his eyes, he threw Luke back against the wall, roaring in delight.

"Time to say your farewells," he taunted "To all of you!"

"Stop!"

At the sound of the voice, everyone looked up. Seeing the white light at the opposite end of the alley, the strangely familiar voice coming out of the sparkling shape.

"It has come," the shape continued, resignation in the female voice. "Just in time. Time to reveal myself. From the shadows, I move to protect you."

Her voice fading away, the energy expanded away into the shape of a figure. A figure wearing a ranger suit not too unlike the ones that the rest of them were wearing. The colour of the suit was white with a light blue trim, while the boots, belt and gloves were the same colour. Her costume had a skirt, while there was an ice type symbol on her chest. Her helmet was white, with Glaceon ears, eye visor and a mouthpiece.

"White Glaceon Ranger!" the figure exclaimed, looking over to Scaledon. "You mess with my friends and..."

"Another ranger!" Nahir exclaimed, as the new arrival took a step towards Scaledon. Her hands reaching up to her helmet, making to remove the object.

"I'm going to give you one chance to walk away," she warned, finally removing the helmet. To reveal...

"Hey guys," Paige said, shooting a grin over to the stunned rangers. "Miss me?"

* * *

To Be Continued...

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Biggest anti-climax in history? I think it could be up there. But, if you genuinely didn't know that was coming... I know for a fact at least one reader guessed that would happen... Grass King take a bow... then it could have been a surprise.**

**Also, the Cobra's get some new attacks. And are claiming to be getting stronger... That's not going to end well.**

**Thanks for the reviews! All welcomed and appreciated.**

**There will be answers next chapter. A lot of them.**

**On that, the next chapter will be the second part, obviously. Preview below.**

**Scaledon was originally a Salamence monster. But, after the Hunters in the previous second parter and Dennis himself, I went with something different.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review. Let's see... Well, the obvious thing would be for Paige to reply to this chapter. So, she will.**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Three, Glace In The Hole: Part Two, preview.**

**Xavier: What the hell?**

**Katie: It's all been you? **

**Paige: It's a really long story.**

**Dennis: There are seven of them now! This is getting ridiculous.**

**Bill: So, you're a ranger. Does that mean that you're corporeal again?**

**Luke: We're still not up to transforming into the Megazord again.**

**Paige: North Wind Megazord!**

* * *

**Coming soon.**


	23. Glace In The Hole: Part Two

Chapter Twenty Three. Glace In The Hole: Part Two.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As the rangers escaped from the Coppinger Aerial Platform, Paige was apparently killed, only to return to life as a ghost. As she tried to find a way to return to normal, several interesting things happened. Meanwhile, in the aftermath of defeating Apex, both the rangers and the Coppingers deliberated over the mysterious white light that had appeared to save the rangers from defeat. Setting a trap, the two of them lured the rangers into a confrontation with the Cobras to try and lure out the white light. When that failed, Dennis created Scaledon, a monster designed specifically to counter the rangers. As Scaledon defeated the Overload Megazord, he also managed to beat all six rangers into the ground, until the white ranger appeared. Removing her helmet, she revealed herself to be none other than Paige..._

* * *

"Hey guys," Paige said, shooting a grin over to the stunned rangers. "Miss me?"

"What the hell?" Xavier yelled, looking at her. "Where the hell did that come from?"

"Questions will be answered," she replied, replacing her helmet on her head. "But, as of right now..."

Letting out a roar, Scaledon charged towards her. Paige easily jumping up over him, using his moving form to balance herself before kicking him in the back.

"... Need to put something in its place," she finished. As Scaledon tried to hit her with his tail, she transformed her body into the ball of white energy and streaked forward through him. The attack causing him to roar in pain.

"That's an interesting attack," Ryan commented. "Whatever it is."

As Paige reappeared out of the streak of white energy, she hit Scaledon with a back kick to his face. The monster roaring in pain as he tried to unleash a Metal Claw attack out onto her, the white ranger throwing herself back away from attack. As he went for her, trying to unleash a Body Slam, she again transformed herself into the white light. Evading his attack, she slammed through his body, his ever changing skin colour going wild as it tried to counter her attacks.

"Not so fun when rangers hit back, is it?" Paige taunted, reappearing behind him. Dropping back to avoid a tail strike from the monster, she flipped away to his left. "But, enough dancing..."

"I will destroy you!" the infuriated Scaledon howled, trying to grab at her. "You mock me..."

"Yeah, I guess I do," Paige replied. "Oh well, it'll be over soon."

Taking a deep breath, she again shifted into her energy form and streaked through the air. This time, her blow sending Scaledon crashing back through the air against a wall. Charging again, she passed straight through him, instantly causing him to explode into thousands of pieces.

Upon reappearing again, she looked around to the other rangers, a smirk on her face under her helmet.

"What, no applause?"

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord and North Wind Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"So..." Duo said, the seven of them back on the Silver Gyarados. Nearly everyone present looking over at a psyched Paige, the new white ranger unable to stop grinning. "What's the..."

"It's all been you?" Katie asked. "Whenever that white light appeared, it was you?"

"Well, I only did it twice," Paige replied. "Joythief and Apex."

"Not that we don't appreciate it," Luke said, dryly. "But, were you ever planning on telling us beforehand?"

"She didn't, because I asked her not to. I asked that she keep it a secret for the moment."

Looking around, virtually everyone present apart from Paige did a double take at the sight of Clarence stood leaning against one of the consoles on the bridge.

"Any particular reason?" Katie asked. Not sounding particularly pleased at the presence of the Conduit to Reality.

"It's a really long story," Paige offered. "And... Well, the general feel of it from me starts after the appearance of Alastor."

"The angel?" Nahir asked, shuddering at the memory.

"Wasn't an angel," Luke muttered, next to her. "Remember?"

"Actually, it starts before that," Clarence remarked. "There's one part of the story that..."

* * *

_"No! No!"_

_Seeing her broken and bleeding on the burning ground of the Coppinger Aerial Platform, Clarence clicked his fingers. Time instantly stopping, such from the power that Dialga had bestowed upon him centuries ago._

_"Dear dear dear," he said, softly. Glancing down at her, he could tell that she couldn't see him, the blood in her eyes cutting off any chance of her identifying him. "You are in a bit of a pickle. Careless of you to fall."_

_Hearing her choke in response, the almost sudden resignation in her demeanour telling it all for him. Forcing him to make his mind up._

_"Yet, you have a connection to them," he continued, passing comment on what had happened. "You still have a part to play in this yet. If you want it. Let's see... I can offer you a second chance. Or, you can go off into the sweet release of death. Give the fight up, away from all the hassle. I can see that you're in a lot of pain, so if you want the first option, cough once. If it's the latter, then cough twice."_

_Below him, Paige instantly let out a single cough. Making to clear her throat for another, he chose to act first._

_"Very well," he said, bringing the NeverMeltIce out of his pocket. A white light erupting out of it, showering across Paige's body. Within moments, she had been sucked inside it, all traces removed from the scene._

_"Time for phase two."_

* * *

"So, why the charade?" Xavier asked. "You could have just given the stone to us and..."

"The need for secrecy," Clarence replied. "Now it's all out in the open, I don't particularly care. But back then... Well, after I gave you your powers in the first place, you might have guessed at what her purpose was. At what I had planned for her. I needed a messenger. And an old friend came in handy for that."

* * *

_"I know," Crane said. Clarence hearing what was going on in the bridge of the Silver Gyarados through the open door. Able to see quite a bit of it as well. "Look, you guys are all awesome. I'm sure you'll do a great job of doing what you have to do. But, I need to get out of your hair. Do us all proud. Everyone who has fought for the region."_

_Watching Dorlinda take a step forward, Clarence could see the Lord of Time place his hand on Crane's arm._

_"Last chance," he said. "Otherwise..."_

_Almost instantly, the two of them vanished. Clarence clicking his fingers to follow them. Even as he heard the new red ranger start to speak in the room ahead of him._

_"So, where do we...?"_

* * *

_"Man," Crane gasped, as he reappeared in the future. In the middle of Cervase Point City, the capital of Verger in the 46th century. "I don't know if that's better or worse than the last time I travelled through time."_

_"Last time?" Dorlinda asked. "Well, I was trapped in the Shadow World, so I assume that you used my brother's time gate."_

_"About that," Crane said. "It's always been bugging me since I found out who Regli really was. How come he needed to build a time portal."_

_"If you ever see Errol again, I suggest that you ask him," Dorlinda replied. "But, I can't see him ever coming back to this time. Not after the aforementioned events. As far as I can guess, his ability to travel through time was suppressed by the mutation, while the rest of his abilities became enhanced. It makes no sense, but sometimes things work out like that."_

_Actually, Clarence thought, watching the two of them from across the square. They don't work out like that. He can keep thinking that if he wants, but he doesn't know that I removed that ability from Young Errol in that instance. Giving it him back when he returned to normal. I couldn't have had him wreaking havoc through any time._

_"Anyway, where do you go from here?" Crane asked. "Back to the life of a nomadic time travelling being, or are you going to help the others do what they need to do?"_

_"If they need my help, I'll be there," Dorlinda replied. "But..."_

_As his eyes flickered towards him, Clarence acted. Stepping forward, his abilities to stop time around them quickly came into play. Seeing Crane pause completely, mid-blink, he plucked the brown package from his coat and placed it in Dorlinda's hands._

_"You know where to take this," he said, placing two fingers on Dorlinda's head. "You found it outside before coming in to take Crane back."_

* * *

"So, Crane made it to the future okay then," Duo said. "Good for him."

"Living a fine life, back with the police unit that he was with before leaving to the past," Clarence replied. "Everything is good with him."

"So, back to the white ranger creation?" Luke asked, slightly tetchily. "Where did that come from?"

"All in time, Mr. Sunderland," Clarence said. "But, anyway, she tried a dangerous scheme involving a demon..."

"That was more dangerous for us," Ryan muttered. "Seriously..."

"Anyway, that was when it first started to dawn on her that the ability could be controlled," Clarence said. "As you've noticed, she started to be able to affect the environment around her. Pick things up, hit Dogbots... You get the idea."

"Wasn't that the point when you could tell us?" Xavier asked. "Because..."

"Anyway, as you've previously mentioned," Clarence interrupted. "That was when the faux angel came along. And... Well, not to put too fine a point on it, he tried to banish you. But, again, I intervened."

* * *

_The bright light from Alastor's energy attack raking across her, Paige immediately brought her arm up to shield her eyes. The strange sensation of feeling like she was being sucked through a vacuum running through her, until she felt secure enough to lower her arm. Finding herself in a completely different place. One with a sheer white floor, almost endless space all around her as far as the eye could see. The only other being around being a grey-white haired figure, wearing an expensive suit in front of her. His black eyes narrowed at her, a strange sensation passing through her as she tried to work out whether or not they were friendly or not._

_"Welcome, Paige," he said. "Welcome to my... Well, it's my waiting room. Technically. You're lucky, the last ranger to appear here didn't get to see my face."_

_"I've seen you before," she said, trying to remember. "Where was..."_

_"Dark Dorlgia," he replied. "I was the one who destroyed that abomination. You're welcome."_

_"I'm just trying to remember the name," she said. "Casti..."_

_"Clarence, actually," he said. "And we need to talk. A lot."_

* * *

"This is... Crazy."

"That's more or less what she said," Clarence said, looking at Katie. "But, in that matter, I still wait for some thanks from you."

"Wait, what for?" the red ranger asked. "What did I...? Paige saving our lives twice with her light attack?"

"Not that," he replied. "Although, I will go into detail on that later, but rather a certain event not more than a week ago. In your time at least."

* * *

_"Now, if I was an antidote," Paige said, folding her arms. "Where would I be?"_

_Sure enough that she was alone in the room, Clarence pushed the door open to the room, hearing her let out a gasp of surprise as she turned to see him. The shock easily clear in her eyes._

_"You? What are you doing here?" she asked. "Not that I..."_

_"Can't I stop by and see how my future white ranger is doing?" he asked. "Got to say, you're doing a great job of blending back in as the ghost."_

_"Role I was born to play," she replied. "If I've got to do it... This would all be so much simpler if you gave me access to the powers..."_

_"And we've been over this," he said. "After the accident... Your body needs to adjust again. If I give you the powers right now on a permanent basis... The results could be catastrophic."_

_"I know, I'm just a bit... I'm tired of the secrecy."_

_"Which can I appreciate," he replied. "I have to keep a lot of secrets in my role. But, powers aren't going to help you find what you need here."_

_"And tell me what that is."_

_"You really think I don't know. And don't pretend that you don't know either, it doesn't help either of us."_

_"Okay, so I'm looking for that antidote. For Katie."_

_"Yeah, you're not going to find one," Clarence said. "I'm pretty sure that they didn't create one, why would they want to save those that they turn?"_

_"So, what does that mean for Katie then?"_

_"Even as we speak, she's mutating," Clarence replied. "Who knows what will happen to her if it completes. Will she be the same, or..."  
"Are you telling me that you honestly don't know?"_

_"No, I'm telling you that it's not going to happen," he said, reaching into a pocket and tossing over a syringe. "I have no particular desire to lose one of you rangers to something like this. They might not have an antidote, but I'm willing to hand this over to you."_

_"There's no catch is there?"_

_"None at all," he replied, turning to leave. "Just a little more patience, Miss Martinez. Soon, it'll all be out in the open."_

* * *

"Well, since I didn't know about it," Katie said, looking at the conduit. "How could I... But, seriously I can't thank you anywhere near enough."

"Anyway, now that you know what's been going on behind the scenes," Clarence remarked. "Time to offer some explanations as to the secrecy and why the white ranger is now your ally."

"About time," Luke muttered.

* * *

"So..."

"There are seven of them now!" Dennis exclaimed, angrily. "This is getting ridiculous."

"I tried to warn you of this, sir," Arbok pointed out. "That Scaledon might not be able to stand up against whatever the white light turned out to be."

"You think I didn't know that?" the Coppinger leader asked, wearily. "I prepared for this eventuality."

"Really?"

"Oh yes," he replied, ignoring the sarcasm. "You think I make this up as I go along?"

"Well, sometimes I won..."

"See, I happen to have a rare item," he continued. "A Protector. And, I may have used it with the intent of this happening."

"What are you...?"  
"Presenting Scaleperior," Dennis said, the sound of thunderous footsteps roaring out as Arbok looked around to see what his leader had decided to do without his prior knowledge.

"You look surprised to see me," the figure coming out of the rooms behind his makeshift lab commented. In his appearance, he looked a lot like Scaledon had. Only in that his body resembled a Rhyperior rather than a Rhydon, the rest of it being completely identical.

"What have you done?" Arbok asked, the scientist confused for once. Not quite understanding.

"It was always my plan to use Scaledon in a role to draw out the white ranger," Dennis explained. "Whatever it turned out to be, I deliberately left him exposed to that weakness. But, when he was destroyed... That's where Scaleperior came in. He no longer has the weakness that Scaledon did against the white ranger. This was my ultimate plan. And because the Megazord went down... Well, if the worst comes to the worse, that's insurance."

"I shall go and start my assault against the region shortly," Scaleperior said. "Because... Well, I need time to prepare mentally. Fail to prepare and prepare to fail. All that stuff."

"Although," Clarence said, looking over to Bill. "I sense that you have a question. Do you want to get it out of the way..."

* * *

"So, you're a ranger," Bill commented, looking at Paige. "Does that mean that you're corporeal again?"

"That was a side effect," Clarence clarified. "She never was a ghost. Just that when that explosion acted as a catalyst for my trapping her in the NeverMeltIce, her ability became stuck on. Since she didn't know this, she was unable to respond to it."

"I'm solid again," she said. "Have been ever since Alastor zapped me and I returned. But, I've still been keeping the charade up for..."

"Yeah, but what we still don't get is why you would do that," Ryan said. "Come on, we want an explanation."

"As you know, I gave the six artefacts to the six of you," Clarence remarked, looking across each ranger individually. "But, I kept hold of the NeverMeltIce. None of you... Well, I wanted to see how you would cope without the need for it. I didn't know who I would give it to at that precise time. But, when I saw what happened to Miss Martinez, I made a conscious choice to step in. To see if she was suitable. When I saw that she was, the NeverMeltIce responding to her, I trapped her in it. This you already know. But, what I didn't know was that the stress would force her ability on. Her incorporeality..."

"How's that related to having a Glaceon as a source of power by the way?" Nahir wondered. "I mean, we all got abilities that relate to..."

"Icy Wind," Clarence said, simply. "That's the..."

"But, wind can't pass through solid objects," Duo remarked. "So..."

"It can if there are cracks in them," the Conduit said, slightly snappily at him. "Anyway, don't worry about it. Where was I? Oh yes, her incorporeality. As already said, she soon started to discover that she could affect the environment around her... When Alastor zapped her... Okay, right. The stress of spending that long as a ghost... If I'd immediately given her the full powers off the bat on a permanent basis, it could have destroyed her physical form forever. I gave it back to her, managing to switch the permanent ability off, if you like. She did keep the ability in that form, only to be used for the purposes of fooling you. You remember the challenges that I sent you on? The Lord of Time Construct, to help each of you master your powers and prove that you were ready for the morphing ability?"

"We were her test?" Katie asked. "To see if she could keep the secret from us?"

"More or less," he replied. "The reason that she didn't tell you. That said, I'm not unreasonable. I did give her three strikes of power."

"Three strikes of power?" Xavier asked. "What does that mean?"

"Even though I didn't have the full power," Paige replied. "I could still morph for five minutes at a time. Clarence estimated that that would be enough in an emergency. To help you guys out. Not being seen was part of the test."

"In three instances," Clarence clarified. "The first being after I sent her back. She saw the six of you fighting Joythief and decided to see if I spoke the truth. Not that you needed the help, but her interference did allow you to strike a decisive blow against her. The next one didn't come for a while, which surprised me. I was almost expecting her to unleash it when it came to fighting the Poké Hunters. But it was against the one that you called Apex. Which... Well, it was necessary her attacks made certain that only she could hit the weak spot in that particular creation. Her final one... There's a story behind that."

* * *

_"Holy crap," Bill said, he and Paige watching the Overload Megazord battle the giant Scaledon on the screen in front of them. "They're taking an ass kicking. This could be bad. At least... In the short term. Although I haven't really had time to form an opinion or run some tests across the Overload Zords, they do seem to self repair when not in use."_

_"Mmm-hmm," Paige replied. "So..."_

_Interrupting her, the explosive sounds of the Megazord going down rang out around the bridge, the two of them almost shocked at the sight of Scaledon's victory. Disassembling completely under the powerful blow, they watched the rangers fall to the ground, the monster shrinking after them._

_"He's not going to let up," Bill said. "If they're going to get some help, they sure could use it right about now."_

_"Yeah," Paige replied, taking a step back. "You'll have to excuse me, I think I'm going to be sick."_

_"Is that even possible?" the PokéManiac asked, only for his words to fall on deaf ears as Paige ran out of the room._

* * *

_Pausing in the corridor, she began to take deep breaths. Readying herself for the transformation..._

_"You're about to use your third one," Clarence commented, arriving out of nowhere behind her. Making her jump in surprise._

_"Don't do that," she warned. "It's freaky."_

_"You sure that this is the one that you want to use it on?" he asked. "Because..."_

_"They're getting slaughtered by that thing," she replied. "I don't care if it is my last chance. I want to get down there and help them out."_

_"Good answer," Clarence said. "Do you know what day it is today?"_

_"Thursday?"_

_"Try again."_

_"The 23rd?"_

_"Keep going."_

_When she didn't reply this time, he couldn't help but let out a small sigh of sadness._

_"I thought that you'd be more aware of your surroundings," he said. "Of the timings and..."_

_"What, you mean it's a month since you brought me back?"_

_"Oh, so you do know."_

_"Sarcasm, Mr. Ben Al-Zan."_

_"Hmmm, is it?" he replied. "Do you know what that means?"_

_"I can guess at it, but you'll have to remind me," she said, shrugging. "Actually, when I say that I can guess, I'm more hoping than..."_

_"Your friends are in trouble," he replied. "Go to them. Destroy Scaledon. Introduce yourself, if you like. For want of a better term. It's time for you to join the fight on a more permanent basis. Time is short, so when you return here I shall come and bestow upon you the full array of powers."_

_"You're serious, aren't you."_

_"My estimate is that your body has recovered sufficiently enough to take them," Clarence said. "So, I don't have any reluctance to give them to you. You have passed every challenge with flying colours. And those colours are white."_

_"I'll get to work then," she replied._

* * *

"We're..."

"I knew that story was a lie!" Bill yelled, springing up. "Feeling sick, my foot."

"If she'd told you the truth, she would have failed the test," Clarence said. "You are one incredibly deceptive human, Miss Martinez."

"Is that meant to be a compliment?" she asked. "Because..."

"It is back where I come from," the Conduit replied. "It's a skill to be that tricky."

"So, you're going to give her the power on a full time basis?" Katie asked. "Is that really what you're going to do?"

"She's earned the right to that power," Clarence said. "So, unless you have a problem with her becoming a part of the team."

"Personally, I don't," the red ranger replied, looking around to the other five. "Anyone else?"

"Heh, what the hey," Duo commented, grinning. "The more the merrier."

"Then, as the Conduit for reality, the embodiment of Dialga, the guardian of the Genesis Book," Clarence said, the NeverMeltIce appearing in his hands from out of nowhere. "I hereby pronounce you as..."

Completely interrupting him, the alarms went off on the bridge of the Silver Gyarados, Bill immediately spinning to look at the consoles in front of him.

"Uh guys?" he asked. "Hate to interrupt this tender moment, but we've got an issue of the monstrous kind."

"This will only take a short time," Clarence said. "You might as well go and get whatever it is. When the transformation is complete, I am sure that Miss Martinez would wish to give her new powers a bedding in."

"Let's go and get him then," Katie said, as the six of them brought their morphers up. Instantly activating them for use, the transformation already starting.

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

"Ah, rangers," Scaleperior remarked, making a sarcastic bowing gesture at them. "Too long. Miss me?"

"Have we even met before?" Xavier asked. "Because..."

"We have," the monster replied. "Although, I have gone under a bit of a drastic transformation since then. Where's your white friend?"

"She'll be along shortly," Ryan said. "But in the meanwhile... I'm sorry, who were you again?"

"Scaledon!" Katie growled. "You're back."

"Well, you're half right," he replied. "Only I'm not Scaledon. I am Scaleperior!"

"Are we supposed to be intimidated?" Nahir asked, sarcastically. "Because..."

"Rock Wrecker!" Scaleperior howled, bringing both arms up. Unleashing a pair of giant boulders from the holes in his hands across the arena, the blows crashing against the six rangers. The force enough to throw them all back, eventually sending them sliding to the ground.

"Okay," Duo quipped. "I'm a little intimidated now."

"Either way, we need to get him," Katie said, struggling up to her feet. Slightly winded by the powerful attack, she tried to hide how much damage had been done to her. "Can't wait for Paige!"

* * *

"So, how does this work?" Paige asked, as Clarence looked over at her. "What do...?"

"Please step forward," he said, holding the NeverMeltIce up. "And it shall begin."

Moving forward, Paige saw the white item vanish from his hand and appear in her hand.

"Deceptive and tricky," he said. "You are granted the power of the White Glaceon Ranger. Take the NeverMeltIce and put your enemies on ice."

"I'm not going to let anyone down," she said. "But, how am I going to utilise it? There's no time to build a morpher..."

"Actually," Bill said, sheepishly stepping forward. "The strangest thing over the last few days. Something's been compelling me to build another morpher. I can't quite explain it, but..."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Clarence said, grinning at the PokéManiac. "But..."

"You made me do something against my will?" Bill asked, suddenly looking worried. "What the..."

"Actually, you don't know the whole story there," the Conduit said. "Before you take the moral high ground."

* * *

_Taking a step back away from the still twisted Hunter Glider in front of him, the prickle at the back of his neck left Bill uncomfortable. Almost like he was being watched somehow, the sensation unnverving at best._

_"That thing's a wreck."_

_Screaming in fear at the sudden interruption, he jumped up into the air. Scared out of his wits as he turned to face the speaker._

_"You are the PokéManiac Bill, correct," the figure asked. "My name is Clarence Ben Al-Zan. Better known as the Conduit to reality."_

_"Really?" Bill said. "How did you get in here?"_

_"Conduit to reality," Clarence replied, rolling his eyes. "Locked door not really a problem for me."_

_"That's a fair point, I suppose," he remarked. "Anyway, why are you talking to me? Is it top secret ranger business."_

_"You could say that," the Conduit said. "For upcoming events, it is required that you construct another morpher."_

_"Why would I need to construct another morpher?" Bill asked. "All the rangers currently have morphers."_

_"Not all of them," Clarence said. "And possibly a Hover Chaser may be in store. Paint it white."_

_"What, white?" the PokéManiac replied, completely surprised by the demand. "That's... We don't have a white ranger."_

_"That's true, you don't," he commented. "Well done, you've noticed that you..."_

_"There's no need for sarcasm," Bill answered. "Wow, there's going to be a new ranger. I can't wait to tell the others..."_

_"So, you're going to do it?" Clarence asked, interrupting him. "Just confirm that for me."_

_"Yeah, of course I'll do it. That's what I'm here for."_

_"Excellent," the Conduit said. "But, now here comes the tricky part. I'm going to have to wipe your memory. You won't remember this conversation, just the outcome where you agreed to build the morpher and Hover Chaser. If you have this prior knowledge, it will compromise someone. I can't let you keep it, but in a few days, I will return the full set of memories to you. Do you accept the terms of what I am saying?"_

_Trying to get over the initial shock, the PokéManiac couldn't help but stammer out his next question._

_"Do I have a choice?"_

_"Well, there's always a choice in theory," Clarence said. "All I can say is that it will be completely painless, you will get them back, also a painless process and in the meantime you will be free to live your life as always. The urge to build the items just an inexplainable urge in your mind. Unfortunately, it is something I have to do. Just as unfortunately, you don't have a choice, but if you say yes, I'll feel less guilty."_

_"You promise that all of that is true?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Then, I agree. Yes, my answer is yes."_

* * *

"Oh."

"Just as I promised you," Clarence said, as a still stunned looking Bill passed the morpher over to Paige. "No harm no foul."

"So, how do I do this?" Paige asked, looking at both the morpher and the NeverMeltIce. "Because..."

"Just slot it in the open gap at the bottom," Bill said, gesturing to the item in question. "Then snap it shut."

Completing the action, Paige removed the G-Force morpher still on her wrist and replaced it with the new morphing device. Pausing for a moment, she handed the old morpher to Bill who pocketed it.

"Good luck with your quest," Clarence said. "You're going to need it. All of it."

Taking a step back, he quickly vanished in a brilliant flash of light. Leaving just Paige and Bill alone on the bridge.

"Guess I need to get out there and fight the good fight," Paige replied, grinning at the PokéManiac. "Thanks, Bill."

"Good luck, Paige."

Nodding at him, she brought her new white morpher up and hit the activation key.

"Genesis Overload!"

The morpher charging into life, she was quickly covered in a bright white light, before it faded to reveal her in her ranger suit. Her helmet appearing last, before the morphing process became finished.

"Time to get to work."

* * *

"If it's even possible!" Luke yelled, as he crashed into the ground. "This thing is even tougher than before."

Roaring in anger, Ryan brought his Fauna Hammer up and struck out at Scaleperior's face. The monster's skin turning a bright red to counter the grass type blow, the blunt force instantly bounced off the surface of his skin. Throwing an arm up, he hit Ryan back across the area. Hard.

As the green ranger hit the ground, Katie jumped up over him, firing both Heat Blasters at Scaleperior. His skin instantly turning blue to avoid taking any damage from the attack, his smile vanished as Nahir came in with the Storm Staff and hit him with a powerful zap of electricity. Shuddering from the force of the attack, he turned on her, determined to hurt her like she had him. His horn coming down, starting to spin around in a drilling motion...

... Only for the familiar white light to erupt out of nowhere, striking Scaleperior in the side of the head. Taken by surprise by the suddenness of the attack, the monster had been unable to prepare to block it. Yet, as Paige materialised out of the energy, he let out a laughing howl of derision.

"Just the one that I was hoping for!" he snickered. "Come on, time to make my day!"

Not rising to the bait, the white ranger raced in to attack him, throwing a roundhouse kick towards the monster. Scaleperior easily blocking the move, ducking back away from her follow up move before trying to launch a Rock Wrecker at her. Jumping up to dodge it, Paige transformed into her energy form, evading it with ease. Hurtling down, she made to crash into him.

"Ice Ball!"

Letting out another laugh, Scaleperior's skin shifted again. This time to a steel coloured silver, the new typing he had taken on easily enough to repel Paige's attack. As she bounced off him, she reformed into ranger form and hit the ground.

"Oh crap," Luke said. "Now what?"

"Come on, guys!" Katie yelled. "We can do this! We have to do this."

"Do you have a plan?" Duo asked. "Because..."

"I've got one," the red ranger replied. "This is what we're going to do. He changes his type when we attack to reflect the damage. So, here's what we're going to do."

* * *

As the seven of them made their plans, Scaleperior rushed over to attack again. All of them making to move out of the way, Duo hurling himself forward with the Shadow Sabre.

"Night Slash!"

His sword glowing with a brilliant black energy, he made to hit Scaleperior. The monster's skin colouring changing to the light green of the bug type. As Duo's attack didn't do much damage, the black ranger staggered away to let Katie come in with the Heat Blasters. Firing both of them at him, Scaleperior instantly changed to the water type to protect himself. Only for Nahir to race in for the kill.

"Spark Strike!"

Just as she had earlier, the yellow ranger sent the electrical attack coursing through Scaleperior's body. Roaring in pain at the constant attack, he switched to the ground type to try and save himself the agony. Only for Ryan to leap in onto the scene, his Fauna Hammer up.

"Frenzy Plant!"

Crashing the hammer down onto Scaleperior, large green vines made out of energy raced across his skin, causing him major damage. Clearly struggling on the ropes, he tried to transform himself into the fire type to defend against it. Even as Xavier came rushing in with his Tidal Trident, the weapon starting to glow with a bright blue energy.

"Waterfall!"

Bringing the weapon up, he sent it crashing against Scaleperior with all the force of a moving waterfall. The blow throwing him back, the monster was clearly starting to struggle now. Straightening himself up, his skin took on a dark grey colour.

"Dragon type?" Paige asked, throwing herself forward. "That's my cue! Ice Ball!"

Even as she moved, she transformed her body into the ball of white energy, sending herself smashing through Scaleperior's body. The blow forcing him to his knees, clearly injured.

"Time to finish him off," Duo said. "Let's form the Pentasis..."

_"Wait!"_

The seven of them instantly pausing at Clarence's voice within their heads, they heard his message following through to them.

_"With the help of the white ranger, you can form a new weapon. The PentaBlizzard Blaster. That's all from me, you're all on your own again now."_

The message silencing in their heads, the seven rangers looked at each other.

"Your call, not mine," Katie said, assembling the Flareon Battle Rifle. "So..."  
"Let's do it!" Duo yelled. "PentaBlizzard Blaster!"

He, Xavier, Ryan, Luke and Nahir putting their weapons together to form the Pentasis Blaster as usual, the process was completed by Paige morphing into her energy form and combining with the weapon. A white design now emblazoned across it, the business end of the weapon now resembling a crossbow.

"Interesting," Luke commented. "So, what..."

"PentaBlizzard Blaster!" Duo shouted, aiming it at Scaleperior. Katie doing the same with the Flareon Battle Rifle. "Fire!"

"Fire!"

From the new weapon that they had formed, a shimmering white arrow erupted out, sailing through the air to pierce Scaleperior straight through the middle. In combination with the Flareon Fury attack, it was easily enough to destroy him, his remains falling to the ground. In the next moment, Paige reappeared in a flash of white.

"That's teamwork," she quipped, before rubbing the front of her helmet. "Even though I feel a bit dizzy now from that."

"Sure you'll get used to it," Ryan commented.

* * *

Gnashing his teeth together in anger, as he threw out a fist to punch the wall in fury, Dennis immediately made a break for the Genesis Book. Ready to open it up and unleash the next level.

"I guess that you weren't expecting that," Arbok said, sagely. "Just keep it calm and..."

Ripping the book open, Dennis watched the small golden ball of energy rise up out of it, vanishing away into the atmosphere.

* * *

Barely seconds later, it fell down onto the remains of Scaleperior and started to reanimate him. Getting up to his feet, the monster threw a smug grin at the rangers before growing to a giant size.

"Okay, let's do this!" Katie shouted. "Time to..."

Before she could either finish or the transformation could start, the six of them instantly keeled over in pain.

"Man, that's painful!" Duo complained, almost doubling over to his knees in agony. "What's going on?"

"We're still not up to transforming into the Megazord again," Luke groaned, clutching his stomach. "It needs to..."

"Well, I guess it's me and Scaleperior," Paige said, taking a step forward. "I'll do it."

"You have a Megazord?" Ryan asked, before realising how stupid it sounded. Something that the white ranger acknowledged, before looking up to the giant monster, a smirk on her face as she looked up to Scaleperior.

"North Wind Megazord!" she shouted, her body instantly glowing with a white light. As the energy spread out, two replicas of her appeared next to the original.

"That would seem to be a Double Team," Katie commented. "Interesting."

Not pausing, the three forms of Paige all began to grow and morph. The replicants transforming into a Froslass and a Dewgong, while the original white ranger transformed into a Glaceon.

"This is awesome!" Ryan yelled, as the three giant Pokémon shifted into robot forms and began to move into formation. The Froslass rotating upside down, its head shifting up to form feet, before it split in half. The bottom part of the Zord rising up to connect to the bottom of the Glaceon whose front limbs rose out in front of it to form some chest armour. The rear legs joining with the tip of the split Froslass. The Glaceon's head rose up to form the head of the Megazord, while the Dewgong split in half down the middle. The upper body and head going to form the left arm, while the bottom half of the body and the tail moved to the right arm. Paige appeared in the cockpit inside the head of the machine, ready to battle.

"Who needs the Overload Megazord," she commented. "Right guys?"

"Not if you get beaten," Duo retorted. "Beat him first and then..."

"I've beaten one Megazord before," Scaleperior snarled, advancing in on the North Wind Megazord. "And I'll do it to you too!"

"Want to bet?" Paige asked, moving the giant machine away from his attack. "Because I'll send you home crying."

As his arms came up, glowing with a bright white light for a Hammer Arm attack, Paige looked across to the right arm, where the Dewgong's tail was attached.

"Not going to happen," she said. "Wind Blaster!"

At her command, the tail began to spin around at rapid speeds, almost invisible to the naked eye as the freezing cold winds given off by the move were enough to stop him in his tracks. Pieces of his skin breaking away under the force of the intense attack, the monster growling in agony at what was happening to him.

"You might be able to do that!" he snarled, aiming both arms at the North Wind Megazord. "But, can you stand up against a Rock Wrecker?"

His arms tensing up, the monster sent a huge boulder towards the giant robot. Reacting faster, Paige hit a button in front of her, looking across to the left arm of her Megazord which was already starting to move.

"Ice Breaker!" she shouted, the Dewgong head thrusting forward through the air, smashing out against the giant rock. The horn crashing against the stone surface of the attack, pushing through it and shattering it.

"Uh oh!" Scaleperior exclaimed, looking suddenly worried for the first time in the two battles. "This isn't..."

"Time to put you on ice," Paige said. "I'm showing you the cold shoulder."

Even as she finished the puns, a series of groans emerged out through the communication system.

"Not funny," Katie offered. "Come on, just finish him off and..."

"Sheer Cold," the white ranger interrupted, coolly hitting a button in front of her. "Now!"

Hearing the button click slowly back into place, Paige's attention was soon drawn to the action that her new Megazord was taking. The mouth sliding open, the roaring winds starting to burst out. A blisteringly cold attack sweeping across Scaleperior's body, the monster instantly was frozen solid by the far below zero temperatures. The mouth closing again, Paige looked out to the iced over enemy, seeing cracks starting to appear across the frozen body.

"That's from the coldest depths of my heart," she quipped. "This time, stay gone!"

The cracks finally growing too large to be contained, the frozen Scaleperior shattered into hundreds of pieces, his remains exploding as they hit the ground. Seconds before the sound of silence reigned for a moment. Until Duo spoke up, his voice slightly quiet through the communication systems.

"Okay, wow."

* * *

"The North Wind Megazord is an amazing weapon," Nahir said, as the seven of them made their way out onto the bridge. "Can't believe that you had that in you all the time."

"Guess that's your induction," Duo quipped. "Destroy a monster with a Megazord... Guess that that means we can trust you again."

"Welcome to the team," Ryan said. "Even though..."

"Technically, I was already on the team. Now, I'm back where the action is. And again, I'm sorry that you were part of mine and Clarence's charade. It wasn't my finest moment, but..."

"We're glad to have you with us, Paige," Duo remarked. "At least you'll stop being so angry with everyone now that you're not a ghost any more."

"Glad to be of use," she said. "Okay, so... I'm going to celebrate full use of being fully corporeal again in the meantime."

"Sounds like a plan," Katie remarked. "If nothing else."

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Heh...**

**So, that's the new ranger two parter. Last two parter for five, six episodes. But, the next one will be a crossover with another group of rangers. Well, if you've been frequenting the Poké Rangers forum, it might have been mentioned which group a few times, but if not... You're in for a surprise.**

**Yeah, so...**

**Thanks for the reviews. They are all welcomed and appreciated.**

**Next chapter... A Little Luck. And as per usual, up soon, preview below.**

**On a final note, I hope that most of what was seen here in this chapter made sense.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review. Clarence is replying today.**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Four, A Little Luck, preview.**

**Xavier: Man, I feel lucky today. Two hundred wins in a row on Poké Rangers. I rule.**

**Nahir: That's not luck.**

**Xavier: No, you're right, it's skill. But, the luck will happen.**

**Katie: You are lucky today. That's strange.**

**Xavier: I'm naturally lucky.**

**?: Every time his day gets better, I grow stronger. And then...**

**Xavier: It started when I got that lucky charm.**

* * *

**Coming soon.**


	24. A Little Luck

Chapter Twenty Four. A Little Luck.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As Paige revealed herself to be the White Glaceon Ranger, she easily destroyed Scaledon in a fight. With the other rangers looking for answers, they came in the form of Clarence who revealed the full stock of his scheme, his role in ensuring that Paige reached that point. As Dennis' next monster, the evolved Scaledon, Scaleperior attacked, the Conduit gave Paige her full set of white ranger powers. Joining in the battle, even the new white ranger wasn't enough to defeat Scaleperior alone, forcing the rangers to work together as a full team for the first time. With the original six rangers unable to transform into their Zords, Paige unleashed her inner power and transformed into the North Wind Megazord. Mastering the machine, she destroyed Scaleperior, before going back to the Silver Gyarados with the other rangers to celebrate..._

* * *

"So, let me get this straight," Lance said, looking around the room. At the now seven rangers ahead and around him. "There are seven of you now?"

"Yeah, why is that so hard to understand?" Paige asked, slightly sarcastically. "You went, I was still posing as a ghost... You came back I'm fully human again and I've got some sweet morphing powers."

"That's not hard to understand, just to stomach. It wasn't really something that I expected."

"As we all agreed," Bill said. "It seemed natural that sooner or later there would be a Glaceon Ranger. Just that it turned out to be Paige was something we didn't expect."

"Hey, I'm an enigma," the white ranger said. "And, in that month since I came back, I wanted to tell you guys about it so many times."

"We'd probably have done the same thing," Luke said. "Kept it secret. You wanted to be useful and get back into the fight. We can appreciate it."

"We're just glad to have you back in the fight," Katie commented. "Take it that you're ready to get back into another battle when it comes."

"Does that make me a bad person? I've been restrained from hitting things for the most part of two months. Scaleperior wasn't really enough of a release."

"Knowing our luck and the way things tend to go," Xavier said. "I'm sure something is waiting just around the corner."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord and North Wind Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"Ah, the civilisation," Paige said, looking up at the buildings around her. "Wow, I've missed this so much while on the Silver Gyarados."

"You've come off the boat before," Nahir remarked. "So..."

"Not like this," she shot back. "Now, I can reach out and touch things. Like so..."

Moving her arm out, she unwittingly ended up stroking the face of a passing teenager. The surprised girl moving quickly away and vanishing into the crowd.

"Smooth," Luke commented, rolling his eyes. "Okay, we'll see you guys later."

"Where are you two going?" Duo wondered, as the five of them watched Luke and Nahir start to move away. "Because..."

"None of your business," Luke said, seconds before Nahir spoke up.

"Coffee," she said, giving the purple ranger a strange look. "That's not a secret. Why would it be..."

"I never said it was a secret," Luke protested. "Just that it wasn't any of his business."

"Touchy," Duo commented, before smirking. "Aww, isn't it cute that you're arguing like an old married couple already."

Even as the words left his mouth, it was Nahir's turn to glower at the black ranger. Her glare causing him to take a small step back, the nervous grin on his face growing by the second.

"Okay, before someone does something that they're going to regret," Katie said, stepping into the argument. "Just calm it down. We've all got things that we need to do, apparently. So, let's get down to them. Okay?"

Her final words pointedly directed at the black ranger, he couldn't help but give her a mock salute.

"Yes, Ma'am."

* * *

"Excuse me, sir!"

Looking around to the sound of the voice, Xavier saw a woman come over to him. She had pale blond hair and brown eyes, while wearing a red t-shirt and cut-off blue jean shorts as well as a pair of white trainers. She was also wearing a pair of Meowth head earrings, and flashing him a smile. In her arms, she had a box of golden lucky charms similar to the ones worn on the head of a Meowth and a container to drop coins in.

"Yes, hello," he said. "What's..."

"I'm selling lucky charms," she said. "It's for the Cruelty Against Meowth charity. Any chance that you can..."

"Hold on a second," he replied, digging in his pocket for change. Struggling to find some close to hand, stalling for time as he did so. "So, are those charms really lucky?"

"Between you and me, they're just painted metal," she said, lowering her voice mischievously. "But, keep that quiet. Although, you never know. Do you believe in luck?"

"I believe think it's lucky if you do believe in it," the blue ranger replied. "But, apart from that, I think that you make your own. You don't have a big spectral meter measuring how lucky you are in... The more you practice, the luckier you get is what I believe."

"Succinct words," she said, as he pulled a pair of buttons out of his pocket, before replacing them. "Do you actually have any change?"

"I'm still searching," he said, finally finding some spare coins at the bottom of his pocket. Dropping it in the container, the charity worker instantly offered him the box of charms.

"Take your pick," she offered. "Since nobody else has got one yet."

* * *

"There's no need for you to stalk me," Duo commented, glancing around the sports shop he'd come in, seeing Katie coming down from the upstairs section. "If you want to hang out, then..."

"Get over yourself," she said. "Between us, you're the one more like to take up stalking as a career choice."

"I just came into get some new shorts for swimming in," the black ranger said. "My Feraligatr decided the shred my other pair."

"Take it you weren't wearing them at the time," Katie commented, dryly. "Otherwise..."

"Don't even joke about that," he replied, letting out a mock shudder at what she was implying. "Anyway, why are you here if you're not following me?"

"You know, sometimes I wonder who has the bigger ego out of you and Luke," the red ranger said, rolling her eyes. "And then you go and say things like that... It's really helpful. Anyway, I came in to get a new bikini."

"Really?" Duo asked. "And... Did you?"

"Yes," she replied. "A black one. Anyway, I'll let you get back to what you're doing. See you in a bit."

Craning his head to watch her saunter away, a mischievous grin flashed across Duo's face as he spoke up.

"So, you like to drape yourself in something black?" he asked. Katie half turning on the spot to shoot him a wink. "Nice."

Still watching her, seeing her head out of the door, he shook himself off and began to head back to what he was doing.

* * *

"What made you change your mind?"

Leaning back in the leather backed seat, Luke smiled over to the yellow ranger, wondering the best way to answer the question.

"Well," he said. "I had an epiphany."

"Really?" she asked. "And what would that be?"

"It's a moment of clarity, the point when you sit up in bed, covered in sweat and..."

"Yeah, I know what an epiphany is," Nahir replied, rolling her eyes. "What was yours about?"

"It just got me thinking," he answered. "So, the occasional date might be interrupted by a cybernetic killing machine. Surely that's more of a reason to do it more, not drift apart. I mean... I can't speak for you but if you were seriously hurt or... You know, died, in one of these attacks... I'd be really upset. Torn up inside. It'd be like a part of me went with you."

"You're no poet," she commented. "But, I still appreciate the sweetness of what you're trying to say."

"That's a start then," the purple ranger replied. "So... Second date, huh?"

"Got to be honest," she remarked. "If you'd told me that a year ago... I'd have probably laughed."

"Really, was it that implausible for you?" Luke asked, at first looking a little hurt, before replacing the expression with a grin. "Come on, admit it. There was something deep down..."

"Do you even really want to take it in that direction?" Nahir replied, narrowing her eyes at him. "Because..."

"Like the expression," he commented, smiling at her. "Love it when you get angry. It's pretty cute."

"Is that the reason that you try to be as aggravating as possible?"

"It might be."

* * *

"Everyone get what they were after?" Ryan asked, coming over to where most of the other rangers were waiting. "Because..."

"What were you after, anyway?" Duo wondered. "Because..."

"There was someone that I needed to battle," Ryan explained. "That's why I came along. It was an old friend, and..."

"Ah, it's great to be able to mix back into the crowds," Paige said. "I mean... Well, I've already said it. It's great to be able to mix back in with the crowds without worrying that someone is going to walk through you."

"Got to say," Nahir said, looking at the white ranger. "I almost half expected that you'd have changed your clothes to reflect your new colour."  
"Ah, I've already got a fair bit of white in what I'm currently wearing," Paige replied. "Maybe at some point, but... I'm celebrating being free again. That's what I intend to do next time."

"Anyone seen Xavier?" Katie asked, the blue ranger being the only member of the group not there. "Because..."

"He's probably preoccupied with something," Luke remarked, glancing around to see if their friend was hanging around somewhere.

"Or someone," Duo commented, having done the same and seen Xavier still talking to the charity worker in the distance. "Go figure, the lucky bas..."

"Not jealous, are you?" Katie asked, playfully nudging the black ranger in the ribs with her elbow. "Come on, you can't begrudge him some... Whatever he's talking about."

"Ah, suppose not."

* * *

"Knew that I'd seen you before somewhere," she said. "You were a Pokémon league champion. That's impressive."

"Ah, it's all what I do," he replied. "Man of many talents."

"You know, I occasionally do some battling when I'm not trying to help cat Pokémon all around the region," she said. "My dream is that someone somewhere will set up a village for only the cat Pokémon to live in harmony."

"What, a cat Pokémon village?" he asked. "That's a novel idea."

"My point was," she replied, reaching down into the pocket of her shorts to bring out a card. "If you want to meet up and have a battle sometime, then..."

"You serious?" he asked, glancing down at the card to see her name and phone number. Christy Cole. "Because I was wondering how to ask you a similar thing?"

"I suggest going now," she said. "But, I need to get more of these out."

"Yeah, I've got to meet up with friends anyway," Xavier replied. "So, I probably couldn't, but... I'll give you a call."

"I'd like that," she said, turning to leave. "Bye."

As she moved away from him, the blue ranger glanced down to the charm in his hand, nodding with appreciation at the item.

"Guess you're already proving to be pretty lucky," he commented. "Nice."

Turning around, he saw the other rangers across the mall from him. None of them really paying any attention in his direction, he rolled his eyes before starting to go towards them.

* * *

"Ah, Miss Cole."

Hearing the voice across from her, Christy instantly straightened up subconsciously. The tall thin figure of her boss stepping out in front of her. A stern faced woman with dark blue hair, pale skin and a maroon dress.

"Yes?" she asked, looking up to her. "What can I...?"

"How is the task going on of selling all these lucky charms?" she asked. "Because..."

"I've sold one so far today," Christy admitted. "It's a lean time."

"Well then, why are you still here talking to me?" her boss asked, her mouth curling up in displeasure. The sight enough to send the teenager skittering back away to sell more, her boss shaking her head as she vanished back into the shadows.

* * *

"You got a lucky charm?" Luke asked, the rangers now back on the Silver Gyarados. "That was pointless. I mean... It's not like it's going to work."

"It's mainly more for the charity implications," Xavier replied. "I don't see you doing anything for Cruelty Against Meowth. Or any charity in general."

"Actually, my family gives over ten million dollars a year to an assortment of charities," Luke answered. "So bite me."

"Oh."

"Yeah, check your facts before you make wild sweeping statements."

"It's not you that's doing it though," Xavier said. "Not you personally..."

"It's the company that does it, I own 30% of Sunderland Drinks..."

"Really?"

"Yeah, my Dad owns 62% and the other shareholders own the other 8%. So, part of it is down to me."

"Things you learn," Duo commented. "When did that happen?"

"The six months before we all regrouped as rangers for this team," the purple ranger replied. "Anyway, my point was that your lucky charm is probably about as lucky as the dead Meowth at the side of the road they probably took it from. So, there!"

"I got a date out of it," Xavier said. "So..."

"Oh, that's why you did it then," Ryan remarked. "Nice, I'd never have thought of that. I'm surprised Duo hadn't."

"I'm surprised anyway," Luke commented. "I always thought you had a crush on Katie."

"Well, maybe I did when we first met," Xavier replied. "But... I'm over her now."

"Really, I never knew that," Duo said. "She not your type?"

"Anyway!" Xavier exclaimed, suddenly looking over to Luke. "How the heck did you know that?"

"I didn't until about five seconds ago," the purple ranger replied, casually. "Heh."

Rolling his eyes in casual anger, Xavier quickly changed the subject.

"So, who's up for a tourney on the Poké Rangers video game?"

* * *

"Man, I feel lucky today," Xavier said, tossing the controller up in the air before catching it again. "Two hundred wins in a row on Poké Rangers. I rule."

"You've been playing all night?" Duo asked, dropping down on the couch next to him to pick up the second controller. "Awesome."

"Two hundred wins in a row?" Nahir asked. "That's not luck."

"No, you're right," Xavier said. "It's skill. But, the luck will happen."

"What, because you got a lucky charm?" Paige asked. "How lucky do you feel?"

"Okay," the blue ranger said, getting up and taking a coin out of his pocket. "I bet every single call I make comes up."

"Let me see that coin," Ryan commented, reaching over to take it from the blue ranger. "If you are dead set on it, then I'll toss it for you."

Running his eyes across the two sides, his thumb swept up to flip it into the air.

"Heads!"

Looking down, the green ranger gave a nod at him. Confirming that he had been right, Xavier punched the air.

"Okay, it's only been one," Luke commented, pulling a handful of coins up out of his pocket. "Let's see..."

"You just happen to have that many coins in your pocket?" Duo asked. "Any particular..."

Ignoring him, Luke tossed them all up into the air. Sending a pointed look over at Xavier as they landed on the ground.

"There are thirty two coins there," he said. "How many heads, and..."

"Fourteen tails, the rest are heads," the blue ranger replied, as everyone present looked down at the dropped metal. Mentally counting them until Ryan spoke up.

"There are only thirty one coins there," he said. "Thirteen are tails, the rest are heads."

"Wait, what?"

* * *

Moving into the abandoned swimming pool, Christy's boss pushed the door to the back open, finding both Copper and Fuller waiting for her.

"How did it go?" Fuller asked, her expression instantly moving to the new arrival. The woman smiling back in reply, before starting to change her form. Within moments, she had become a large Meowth-like monster. The golden charm on her head was at least three times the size of a normal one, while large metal claws were strapped across her paws. She was wearing blue and black armour across her body, and a strange blaster rifle was strapped across her back. Also, she had red eyes and wore a green scarf around her neck.

"What's with the scarf?" Copper wondered. "Why are you...?"

"It's green," the Meowth monster replied. "The colour of luck."

"You don't honestly believe that, do you?" Fuller asked. "That crap?"

"Lucky's my middle name," the monster said. "Or rather the last part of my only name. They don't call me Meoluck for nothing."

"They will if your plan doesn't work," Fuller growled. "What is your plan?"

"Well, when you broke me out of the stone," Meoluck replied. "I said that I would put my plan into motion. Using the Cruelty Against Meowth charity, I have started to circulate several lucky charms into the region. These really are lucky, they'll make everything go right for the holder."

"So, how is this a good thing then?" Copper asked. "As far as we understand, one of the rangers has hold of one."

"Every time his day gets better, I grow stronger," Meoluck said, smiling sweetly at Copper and Fuller. "And then..."  
Bringing her claws up, she slashed them together to empthasise her point.

"Alright, calm it down, Purrie," Fuller remarked. "Just bide your time and..."

"Did you just call me Puree?"

"No, Purrie," she said. "Because of the sound you make."

"Oh right," the Meowth monster replied. "Well, I'll head off and..."

Moving back, she vanished away in a flash of light.

"What was all that about?" Copper wondered. "Why would anything react like that?"

"I don't know, I'm sure there's a back story out there."

* * *

"You are lucky today," Katie commented, as the blue ranger came in with a pile of winning lottery tickets. "That's strange. And a bit ridiculous."

"How much you win?" Bill asked, glancing over. "Is it a good time for me to ask for rent, since you live on my boat?"

"Think I might have won about seven thousand dollars here," Xavier said. "What can I say, I'm naturally lucky."

"So, it has nothing to do with the lucky charm that you bought yesterday?" Luke asked, suspiciously. "Because..."

"It started when I got that lucky charm," Xavier said. "But, that surely can't be it. Anyway, I thought that you didn't believe in it?"

"I don't," the purple ranger replied. "But, there has to be some sort of reason for the way you're suddenly luckier than a Chansey that's eaten an omelette made of lucky eggs."

"Didn't I just say that I'm naturally lucky?" the blue ranger asked, before the alarms went off all around them. Bill immediately moving over to check the computer, the sight of Meoluck attacking Perrin City.

"How's your luck now?" Katie asked, dryly, as the other rangers came running in to see what was going on.

"Monster?" Paige said, rhetorically. "You guys go and get it. If you need me, I'll come."  
"Is that how we're working now?" Duo asked. "Terrific."

"Okay, let's do it!" Xavier shouted, as the six original rangers brought their morphers up, Katie giving the command.

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

Jumping off their Hover Chasers, the six of them saw the monster attacking random people, alongside a group of Dogbots. Marshaling the robots, was a pair of Doombots.

"Those guys again," Ryan said, dryly. "Terrific."

"We've taken them out before," Luke remarked. "Why's now going to be so different."

As he finished speaking, Meoluck turned to see them. A smirk flashing across her face, as she extended her claws out.

"Welcome to the battle, rangers," she said, smirking at them. "How nice to see you all. Meoluck is the name and defeating you is my aim."

"Oh great, the thing comes out with rhymes," Katie commented. "That's all we need."

"Let's put him under some poetic justice," Nahir quipped. "Because..."

"Dogbots, attack!" Meoluck shouted, levelling her claws at the six of them. A score of mechanical howls ringing out, the swarm of robots tore forward, ready to charge them.

Surrounded by four Dogbots, Nahir jumped up and kicked one in the stomach. Bouncing off it, she turned to hit another with the same attack, only for it to bring an arm up and hit her back into another. That Dogbot in question hitting her with a Fire Punch in the back, dropping her to her knees. Across from her, Ryan tried to take on one of the Doombots, only for the large robot to grab him by the face and hurl him to the ground. Trying to flip himself back up to his feet, the green ranger again went down as a foot came up into his face. Meanwhile, Duo fought against several Dogots with his Shadow Sabre, cutting them down with ease. Until one ducked his strike and tackled him. Dropping the sword, he staggered backwards, only for one of the Doombots to come in and strike him with a Giga Impact. Hitting the ground, he saw Luke battling against the Dogbots surrounding him, one of them evading his Psycho Spear attack and striking him several times with its claws. Above the fallen black ranger, Katie had stormed in onto the scene, hitting the Doombot with a flying kick. The blow staggering it very slightly, it raised its Houndoom head and tried to blast her with a stream of fire. The red ranger easily taking the attack, she brought both Heat Blasters up and shot the imposing Doombot several times in the stomach. Meanwhile, any Dogbots that came near Xavier found themselves tripping up over their own feet.

"Guess I'm lucky in my own way," he commented, grinning under his helmet as he kicked one in the face. As another tried to swipe at him, it missed and its arm fell off. "So..."

Suddenly taking him by surprise, Meoluck raced in on him, slashing at him several times with her claws. Every single blow landing in his back, forcing him away from the rest of the rangers.

"You're not part of this, sweetie," she said, an evil grin on her face as she reached around her back to get the weapon there. "Not even close."

"Is it me, or do those Dogbots look even stronger than normal?" Lance asked, watching the events taking place on screen. "Normally, they wouldn't have much trouble with..."

"Guess I'm going down to help out then," Paige commented, bringing her morpher up. "Guess I'm needed."

"Good luck," Bill commented. "As bizarre as it sounds."

"Genesis Overload!" the white ranger yelled, activating her morpher.

"I'm interested," Meoluck continued. "I mean... Do you honestly think it's a coincidence that you suddenly become so lucky and then a lucky monster like me shows up? Typical humans. One hand on the trigger, the other tapping the nose."

"Go to hell," Xavier muttered, trying to get back to his feet. "That's just..."

"Pity that any luck you might have is negated in my presence," she said, aiming her blaster rifle at him. "But, I still have use for you. Indeed I do. Your friends on the other hand..."

Spinning around, looking to where the other rangers had been restrained by the Dogbots in the aftermath of the quick battle, she brought the weapon up to aim at them. Pulling the trigger, a golden beam of energy raced through the air to strike the defeated other rangers. Their bodies glowing with a bright coloured golden light, before starting to change shape.

"No!" Xavier yelled, trying to scramble back up to his feet. Meoluck back-kicking him in the face to keep him down, as her attack subsided. The only remains of the other rangers being five lucky gold charms on the ground. All similar to the one Xavier had on his person.

"This is where the lucky charms that you got came from," she taunted. "But, you're not going to get these. I'm going to keep these for myself. Ranger charms."

Replacing her weapon on her back, she looked over to the remaining Dogbots, the monster gave the order.

"Hurt him considerably more," she said. "But don't destroy him. I still have use for him."

Moving away from the blue ranger, she vanished away in a stream of energy. Just the robotic soldiers left alone with Xavier.

"Crap," the blue ranger groaned, managing to get up. "No way!"

"Need some help?" a voice called out, as Paige raced onto the scene. "Sorry I'm late. Ice Ball!"

Hurling herself into the air, she transformed herself into the ice cold ball of energy. Floating into the midst of the Dogbot crowd, the white ranger started to crash her way through the ranks, bouncing off each of them to knock them to the ground in defeat. The robots completely unable to deal with the surprise attack, the two Doombots looked at each other before shrugging and vanishing.

As the last Dogbot went down, Paige reappeared out of the energy ball, looking down at the defeated robots with disdain.

"Guess you weren't so lucky," she commented, moving over to help Xavier up. "Although, I could say the same to you."

* * *

"So, she seems to control the power of luck?" Bill asked. "That's... A problem. Although, it does explain how the Dogbots were much stronger on reflection. She could have been exercising some control over them, meaning that one of them would eventually get lucky and..."

"When she vanished, it explains how I was able to easily defeat them," Paige said, the two rangers still in their suits, only having removed their helmets. "Aww, you mean it's not because I'm awesome compared to everyone else?"

"Interesting attack though," Lance remarked. "It was like watching a pinball the way you took them down."

"Who needs a Trident or a Spear when you have that," Paige commented. "But, we need a plan now. How can we get the others back, and how can we defeat Meoluck if she controls the power of luck. Because..."

"These things always have a weakness somewhere," Xavier said. "But..."

"Let me see," Lance said, looking at a video image of the battle with Meoluck. "Well, if there was a weakness in her, I would say that it's pretty clear. If you want to control the power of luck, then what better way than..."

"The lucky charm!" Paige remarked. "That has to be it."

"Well, it doesn't have to be it," Bill pointed out. "But it probably will be."

"So, we just wait until she shows up and then see how she copes without her charm," Xavier commented. "Assuming we can get it away from her."

"Looks like you don't have much time to wait," Lance remarked, as the alarms started to ring out again. "Sounds like something is out there."

"Guess we better go and do it then," Xavier said, glancing over at Paige. "You ready to go this time?"

"I was ready to go last time, I just didn't know if I would be needed or not," she retorted, picking her helmet up. "I guess the answer is yes. Let's do this!"

Replacing their helmets, the two of them ran out of the bridge.

"Pity you can't build them some sort of anti-luck ray," Lance commented. "That'd just help out. A lot."

* * *

"Ah, back for more," Meoluck trilled, as the two rangers landed on the ground across from her. Now wearing the five charms that the other rangers had become on a cord around her neck. "How nice. Pity that your luck is about to run out."

"Any chance that you're going to stop making terrible puns?" Paige asked, hopefully.

"You should be so lucky," the monster retorted. "And you're not going to be."

"Let's find out," Paige said, jumping towards Meoluck. Her body shifting into its energy form as she moved through the air. "Ice Ball!"

Crashing into the monster, the force of the blow was enough to send Meoluck flailing through the air...

... Only to land on a nearby crash mat, much to the surprise of the two workmen moving it.

"Oh come on!" Xavier yelled, bringing out his Genesis Blaster and running towards the grounded monster. "There's luck and there's stupidity."

Making to fire at her with the blaster, the blue ranger instantly tripped over a fallen trashcan. Groaning in pain as he landed on the sidewalk, Xavier looked up to see Paige trying to hit Meoluck with a flying kick. The monster trying to dodge the attack, she unwittingly tripped up over her own feet and fell onto her back. As Paige sailed over her, Meoluck sprang up and hit the white ranger in the back with a claw attack. Dropping to her knees, Paige tried to recover, only for Meoluck to grab her by the throat and hurl her towards Xavier. The two of them going down, Xavier trapped underneath her.

"You think that we need a plan B?" he grunted. "Because..."

Before he was able to finish, Meoluck came prancing over. Aiming her blaster rifle at the two of them, the smirk on her face was apparent for both to see.

"Now, you have outgrown your usefulness," she said. "You're about to start your new life, any last requests?"

"Just one," Xavier replied, still trying to move underneath Paige. "You're the embodiment of luck right?"

"Yes," she said, suspiciously. "What about it?"

"So, of all the beings in the universe, you're the luckiest?"

"What is your point?" the monster demanded. "Get to that point, or I'm going to blast both of you."

"No point," Xavier said, bringing his arm up. "Have your charm back though."

Hurling it as hard as he could, the two rangers watched the small golden item sail up into the air, neatly hitting Meoluck in the eye. As she howled in pain, instantly moving to rub at the injury from the surprise attack, Paige took the opportunity to hurl herself into another Ice Ball attack. The strike hitting the monster square in the charm, it sailed off her head and landed next to Xavier.

"No!" Meoluck screeched, rubbing at the empty space on her head. "Not the charm! Anything but that!"

"Too late," Xavier retorted, bringing out his Tidal Trident. "You're out of luck!"

Smashing the blades of the weapon against the giant charm, it instantly shattered under his strike. Several spirits rushing out of it, including five that moved towards the charms around Meoluck's neck. In no time at all, the other five rangers appeared, all looking surprised under their helmets.

"What the...?" Ryan asked. "... Just happened?"

"No!" Meoluck wailed, almost letting out tears of frustration. "All my hard work undone!"

"You guys are back," Paige said, looking over to the newly restored rangers. "You want to..."

"Nice way of stating the obvious there," Luke muttered, sarcastically.

"I'm all for putting this cat out at night," Duo said, as he, Luke, Nahir, Ryan and Xavier quickly moved to form the Pentasis Blaster, before the blue ranger took the weapon. Meanwhile, Katie formed the Flareon Battle Rifle, aiming her own weapon at Meoluck.

"Don't forget me," Paige called, transforming into her Ice Ball form and quickly moving to combine with the Pentasis Blaster, forming the PentaBlizzard Blaster

Her eyes widening at the sight of the two large weapons directed at her, Meoluck tried to speak, yet no sound came out of her mouth.

"Guess there's only one way to say this," Xavier quipped. "Do you feel lucky? Well, do you?"

Right on cue, the twin attacks came racing out of the barrels towards her.

"PentaBlizzard Blaster! Fire!"

"Flareon Fury!"

As the blasts tore into her, completely decimating her body, the rangers heard Meoluck let out a brief scream before her remains hit the ground.

"Guess she wasn't so lucky," Nahir remarked.

* * *

"That's just an unlucky way to go," Copper quipped, shaking his head. "I can't believe that actually happened."

"Amazing how quickly your good luck can change at a time like this," Fuller said, moving to open the bag of stones up. A ball of light quickly emerging from it, vanishing away into the atmosphere as the two of them watched.

* * *

As the ball of light fell down onto the remains of Meoluck, the monster instantly reformed and got up to her feet. None of the rangers really surprised when she shot up to a giant height, now towering over the seven rangers.

"Guess it's time to double team her," Xavier remarked, looking over at Paige. "You ready to go?"

"Oh yeah," she said, her body starting to glow with a bright white energy. "Double Team!"

"Time to transform!"

At the twin commands, Paige split herself into three separate versions. The three of them growing up to transform into a Glaceon, Dewgong and Froslass.

"North Wind Megazord!"

At the command, the three figures grew, before transforming, the replicants into a Froslass and a Dewgong, while the original white ranger transformed into a Glaceon. Next, the three giant Pokémon shifted into robot forms and began to move into formation. The Froslass rotating upside down, its head shifting up to form feet, before it split in half. The bottom part of the Zord rising up to connect to the bottom of the Glaceon whose front limbs rose out in front of it to form some chest armour. The rear legs joining with the tip of the split Froslass. The Glaceon's head rose up to form the head of the Megazord, while the Dewgong split in half down the middle. The upper body and head going to form the left arm, while the bottom half of the body and the tail moved to the right arm.

Meanwhile, the six original rangers had also transformed into their Eevee forms, Xavier giving out a command of his own.

"Overload Zords! Megazord formation!"

Under the command, the six Zords turned into their robot forms and began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbs and tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. As the Megazord stood up straight, it stretched out its arms.

"Let's do this!" Katie exclaimed, starting to move the Overload Megazord towards Meoluck. The North Wind Megazord doing the same, going into attack the Meowth monster. Bringing her claws up, she slashed away at Paige's Megazord to force it back. Only for the Overload Megazord to grab her from behind, the white ranger giving out a command as the Dewgong headed arm came up. The horn glowing slightly with a bright white energy.

"Ice Breaker!"

Thrusting the arm forward through the air, the blow came into contact with Meoluck, winding her. As the Overload Megazord let go of her, she tried to unleash another slash at the machine that had been restraining her. The attack missing by an inch, Xavier quickly gave a command.

"Genesis Blaster!" the blue ranger shouted, hitting a button. The giant robot reaching down to the compartment in the Vaporeon leg and bringing the weapon up. "Hyper Beam!"

Rapidly responding to his commands, the bright orange beam of energy roared out of the barrel of the blaster, hitting Meoluck in the stomach. The sheer force of the blast hurling her back, Paige quickly gave out a command of her own.

"Wind Blaster!"

Straight away, the Dewgong tail began to spin around quickly. Sending a frigid blast of ice cold wind towards Meoluck, the monster tried valiantly to stand up against it. Yet, as the temperature fell ever lower, the seven rangers could see her resolve break and her whiskers freeze together.

"Y-y-you'll p-p-pay for th-hat, rangers," she snarled, her teeth wildly chattering away. "With i-i-interest."

Yowling wildly, she leaped at the North Wind Megazord, slashing at the white ranger's Megazord with a frenzied intent. As sparks rose up from the metallic surface, Paige let out a yell of surprise.

"A little help might be nice!" she yelled, furiously. "Come on!"

"Time to ensure that her luck is out!" Xavier yelled, punching another code into the set of buttons in front of him. "Genesis Staff!"

Holding its hands up, the weapon appeared out of thin air, the Overload Megazord quickly moving to strike Meoluck in the back with the weapon. As she howled in pain, Xavier gave another command.

"You've had your chips," he said. "Element Overload!"

Rising up to its full height, the blade of the Genesis Staff began to glow with energy, before coming down to hit Meoluck in the chest six times. Each blow shining with one of the respective ranger colours. Taking the full force of the attack, the monster let loose a final screech of agony before collapsing to the ground and exploding into thousands of pieces.

"Her luck's out," Nahir said, quickly. "Just in case anyone else was thinking of making that pun."

"I already did," Xavier remarked. "So..."

"Well, I wasn't listening."

"Thanks for the rescue by the way," Katie commented, glancing back to the blue ranger. "We appreciate it."

"Hey, it was a double team effort," Paige protested, from the North Wind Megazord. "Where's my thanks?"

* * *

"Guess I'm back to being a regular averagely lucky person," Xavier bemoaned, as the seven of them came out onto the bridge. "It's..."

Sighing, he felt Duo reach out and pat him on the back.

"Ah, it'd be boring if you were that lucky all the time," he said. "Everything going for you... At least this way you have the motivation to keep on trying to get better."

"True, I suppose," the blue ranger replied, reaching down to his pocket to pluck the card out of it. The one that he had got from Christy. "At least I still have this."

"Now, the question is," Ryan offered. "Did you get that because you were under the influence of the lucky charm, or because..."

"Only one way for him to find out," Nahir commented. "Go on, Xavier. Give her a call and see what happens."

Glancing back down to the phone number, the blue ranger nodded softly.

"Maybe I will," he said, pocketing it again. "Maybe I will."

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**So... a bit of a different chapter today. But either way, I hope you enjoyed it.**

**Yeah, the way I remember it, back in the early chapters of SDI, I wrote some of it with the intent of Xavier having a crush on Katie, but it just sought of died out after the thirty chapter mark. Although, it could explain why he gave her his morpher to use the Battlizer in The Shining Of The Star. Meh. In those early chapters, it's subtle, but if you read enough in between the lines, it's there.**

**And there's a reference to (at the time of writing) the most recent chapter of Blazin' Saddles fic, Poké Rangers Bandstand. (It's quite good and also someone not a million miles away from typing this sentence created one of the rangers in it, so... Check it out if you already haven't). If you spot it... Well, it's not unobvious, but well done. Ironic in itself that of course Xavier was created by Blaze.**

**Oh and also, a Lost Zone reference. Which is possibly even more obvious.**

**Anyway, thanks for the reviews. All appreciated. Completely.**

**Errr... Next chapter is entitled Hooked On Ambiance (Lousy title I know. Meh). Preview below, up soon.**

**Also, apologies for the terrible repetition of joke puns in this chapter. And just for the record, I'm as tired of them as you probably are right now. Heh.**

**Thanks for reading. Mean it.**

**Don't forget to review... I think Fuller can reply to this one. So... Hope you enjoyed it.**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Five, Hooked On Ambiance, preview.**

**Ryan: That's awesome.**

**Paige: That Aipom's dancing on Youtube? Come on.**

**Katie: Who would film something like that?**

**Jake: Everything is going to plan. **

**Bill: Guys... Monster attack!**

**Ryan: That's not possible.**

**Hawk: Everyone is distracted by our dancing Aipom video.**

* * *

**Coming soon.**


	25. Hooked On Ambiance

Chapter Twenty Five. Hooked On Ambiance.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_With Paige now back as part of the team, the rangers explained everything that had happened to the returning Lance. Who was shocked and surprised at the whole thing. As they went back to the mainland for various stuff, Luke and Nahir went for coffee, Katie and Duo had a moment of flirting while Xavier got a lucky charm from a girl named Christy who gave him her phone number as well. Unfortunately, despite making him luckier, the charm turned out to be from the Meoluck monster who controlled the power of luck. In battle, she managed to best the rangers and turn everyone apart from Xavier and Paige into lucky charms. Facing Meoluck again, the two remaining rangers managed to destroy the source of her power before defeating her. After the battle, Xavier mused on whether or not the charm was a good thing for him..._

* * *

"Right, so I think there should be a rule that you can't use SDI Red," Ryan said, dropping the controller down in disgust. "That's ridiculous that you can just beat all comers down into the ground with the Battlizer every single time."  
"Why don't you use G-Force Red then?" Xavier asked. "Use Crane's Battlizer. Besides, I was the Red SDI Ranger. Which gives me a right to use it, y'know."

"It's not exactly skill when you use probably one of the best characters on there," Duo pointed out. "It's like winning on a football game when you play as Inter Saffron. Go through using either Paige or Nahir and..."

"Hey!" the white ranger protested. "What are you saying?"

"That it's more of a challenge using your old G-Force powers than just holding it out until you can activate the ultimate weapon," the black ranger replied, quickly backing off. "Not trying to offend you, Paige."

"That makes a change," Luke commented, looking over from where he was reading a magazine. "Normally, you try to insult and offend everyone in sight."

"That's a bit harsh," Duo said. "Not normally."

"To be fair..." Paige piped up. "I've known him a lot longer than you have Luke. And I can categorically say that..."

"Thank you," Duo muttered.

"... You're absolutely right."

"Wait, what?"

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord and North Wind Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

* * *

"Heh heh!"  
Looking over to the snickering PokéManiac, Lance quickly raised an eyebrow at his friend, surprised and bemused.

"What's so funny?" he asked. "Is it a clever joke that only you would get?"

"Nah, it's a video on Youtube that a friend sent me," Bill replied, leaning back to show the Dragon Master what it was that he had been sent. The full screen showing an Aipom dancing furiously on the spot while inanely grinning at the camera.

"The things that..." Lance started to say, before his face slipped into a grin at the sight. "Heh. That is funny actually."

"I mean... Normally, I probably wouldn't watch something like this," Bill said. "But... I'm glad I did, this is one of the funniest things I've ever seen."

"Are you going to send it on to someone else?" Lance asked. "Because... I think they need to see it."

"Before anything else..." Bill replied. "The rangers need to see this."

* * *

"What gives?" Nahir yawned, glancing over to the screen. "What... What..."

"Not a morning person, huh?" Luke asked, smiling over to the yellow ranger. "Never have guessed."

"It's not that I'm not a morning person," she replied, stifling another yawn. "It's just more a case of..."  
"Quiet," Bill said. "You're going to miss the start of it."

"Start of what?" Katie wondered, as the screen cleared and the Aipom appeared and the video started to play. For a few seconds, the rangers watched in silence, before the first gradual snickers rang out from the group. Snickers that quickly grew into full on laughter.

"That's awesome," Ryan commented, watching the simian Pokémon shake its moves on the screen in front of them.

"It is pretty cute," Nahir said. "On one hand it's funny. On the other..."

"That Aipom's dancing on Youtube?" Paige asked. "Come on. There has to be something better on there."  
"It's gotten over four hundred thousand views in a little under a day," Xavier said. "It's..."

"Isn't there a music video compilation for the backing track of it?" Duo wondered. "See it spring up and down in tune to..."

"Who would film something like that?" Katie asked, shooting a disdainful look at the black ranger. "Come on."

* * *

"Ha!"

"What are you looking at?" Tim asked, glancing over to where Mal was looking down to his cell phone. "Has someone sent you a below the knuckle joke?"

"You're the only other person I know," Mal said. "Have you sent me a below the knuckle joke?"

"No."

"Well, why are you asking me that then?" he replied, disdainfully. "Nah, I'm just looking at this video that I found on Youtube."

"Really, you get Youtube on your phone?" Tim asked. "I didn't know that."

"Dude, you've got to check this out," Mal said, handing it over. "It's fricking awesome! It's so nuts that... That... You get the idea, it's nuts."

"Well, it's an Aipom," Tim remarked, looking down at the screen. "And it's about to... No way! That's awesome!"

"I know, right?"

"Dance, you purple little freak!"

* * *

"Have you seen the video?" Hawk asked, looking over to where Jake was stood by the window. His superior watching the city below them, his focus fully on whatever he was doing.

"I'm not going to watch it for obvious reasons," he replied. "But I hear that it's good."

"Not really," another voice remarked, coming over. "However, I do like the idea that the my moves are appreciated by so many in so short a time."

"Ambiance," Jake said, turning back around to the monster. The creature in question resembling a giant Ambipom, with the head of a Mime Jr. and to complete the effect, he was covered in black Stunky fur. He was also wearing dancing shoes, and both his tails were covered in white gloves. "Where have you been?"

"Around," the monster replied. "Checking out how my glamour works. My mystical glamour."

"Does it work?" Hawk asked. "Because we're just desperate to know. So that we can instigate the next part of the plan."

"It works," Ambiance confirmed. "With my graceful skills, I almost convinced some children to walk into a lake."

"Almost?" Jake demanded. "They managed to break out of your control?"

"Think about it, moron," the monster said. "If reports break out about some kids that died because they followed an Aipom into a lake, that would affect the rest of the plan."

"True," Jake had to concede. "That's a fair point. Sorry about that. Anyway, back to the plan."

"Everyone is distracted by our dancing Aipom video," Hawk commented. "And all it took was a little help from Noland to get it up on the Internet. And our monster."

"If they're not, they soon will be," Jake said. "His hypnotic moves will lure and distract them. Everything is going to plan."

"Once they are lured and distracted, they will be putty in our hands," Hawk said. "Only able to do what Ambiance orders them. When that happens, they will take over the search for artefacts from us."

"We get all the credit and the artefacts, while doing very little work," Jake snickered, reaching over to high five his fellow Coppinger. "Fantastic idea."

* * *

"It gets better every time you watch it!" Xavier yelled, in glee. "I'm sure these moves are different every time."

"What's your favourite thing about this Aipom's dance routine?" Nahir wondered. "Because I like that little twirl that it does. The one before it looks like it's going to fall before it reaches out and stops itself with the tail on its hand."

"So, I'm interested," Luke commented. "You think that battling Pokémon is cruel and pointless. But, how is this not a little bit cruel? Even though the Aipom looks like it's having a Wailord of a time."

"Yeah, but every time you see an Aipom, they're always smiling," Duo pointed out. "They're a happy species. You could probably whip them for hours on the end and..."

"If we whipped you for hours on end, would you be smiling?" Katie asked, glancing over to the black ranger. "Huh?"  
"If you did it?" he replied. "Well..."

"Okay, forget it," the red ranger said, instantly realising what she had said and who to. "Bad example."

* * *

"Interesting."

"What is?" Cobra Purple demanded, looking over to where Cobra Blue was stood looking out over the horizon of the city below them. "What's so interesting."

"Don't you feel it?" Cobra Blue asked. "I'm sensing something. Something distant and powerful."

"Powerful, you say," Cobra Red said, walking over. "Where?"

"Honestly, I don't know," Cobra Blue replied. "But..."

"I can sense it too," Cobra Yellow offered, coming out from where she had been lurking in the shadows. "But, it's hard to explain."

"And there's also the distant part," Cobra Green said. "That is something that should not be forgotten."

"If it's out there, then we can track it," Cobra Black remarked. "If we can track it, we can find it."

"Why can the five of you sense this thing and I can't?" Cobra Red demanded. "What are you hiding from me?"

"We're not hiding anything," Cobra Purple protested. "If you can't sense it..."

"I'm sure that it's nothing to do with us," Cobra Blue said. "So, don't blame us, Cobra Red. Maybe you're not as in tune with it as us."

"What is it?" the evil ranger asked. "That you can sense. What am I missing out on?"

"A trace of Genesis energy," Cobra Yellow remarked, gesturing out towards the mountains far in front of them. To the Merlin Plateau. "That is where it is. Where our readings are coming from."

"Then, that is where we shall go," Cobra Red said. "Away to it!"

The six of them hearing their leader's command, they quickly vanished away in streaks of same coloured energy.

* * *

"What did I miss?" Luke asked, coming over while eating pizza straight out of the box. "Did the Aipom do anything different?"

"Nope," Paige said. "But, it has to soon. It's been doing the same dance over and over... It's mesmeric."

"Really, mesmeric, huh?" Katie commented. "Wouldn't it be ironic if this entire video turned out to be a Coppinger plan to render us drooling lunatics?"

For several seconds after she finished speaking, nobody said anything, their attention fully on the dancing Aipom.

"Nah, that'd be ridiculous," Xavier said. "Honestly, how could that sweet little Aipom be anything other than exactly what it is on the surface?"

Almost as if it had heard the blue ranger making his point, the alarms started to ring out on the bridge.

"Guys..." Bill said. "Monster attack!"

Turning the video of the dancing Aipom off, the PokéManiac brought a video picture of Ambiance up onto the screen. The monster dancing its way towards a group of humans, something obscured within its hands.

"That's not possible!" Ryan exclaimed. "Turn the dancing Aipom back on."

"Wait a second," Katie interrupted. "It's not attacking."

"Is that thing giving them flowers?" Duo asked, unable to believe his eyes. The video rendered image of Ambiance indeed handing out single flowers to each of the humans in the group. "What the heck is going on there?"

"Might want to go on down and see what's happening," Lance said. "Just on the..."

"You'd love us to go on down there," Luke remarked. "Then you could watch the dancing Aipom video all on your own. How dumb do we look?"

"Dumb enough to argue about it when there might be a threat to people," the Dragon Master retorted. "Now, get going!"

"Come on, guys," Katie said. "Let's go. No ranger suits, I want to see what's going on first."

* * *

"Where is this signal coming from?" Cobra Blue demanded, scanning the side of the mountain. "It's definitely in this direction, but... It's faded. Distant."

"I'm starting to feel it," Cobra Red commented, rubbing at his head. "It's here. Somewhere."

"It's a pretty big mountain," Cobra Yellow pointed out. "We might have a task on our hands."

"The search hasn't started yet and you already want to give up?" Cobra Black asked, shaking his head. "What kind of evil being are you?"

"One who doesn't like searching every pissing hole on this mountain," Cobra Green muttered. "Damn place. When we gain ultimate power, I suggest that we flatten the entire place."

"Not get a disagreement from me there," Cobra Purple commented. Seconds before several bright orange humanoid beings rose up out of the ground, surrounding the Cobra Rangers. Each of them making to block the rangers away from escaping, the unusual beings taking up fighting stances.

"What the...?" Cobra Black exclaimed. "What are these things?"

"Couldn't tell you," Cobra Yellow said. "But, either way, they're in our path."

* * *

"What's going on?" Katie asked, she and the other rangers making their way through the group that had formed in the location where the satellite had picked up the images of the monster earlier. "What's so interesting."

"There's some sort of mutated Ambipom over there," a helpful man offered. "He looks like one freaky thing, but he dances like the Aipom on Youtube. Which makes him a good guy in my book."

"Yeee!" Nahir exclaimed. "The live action dancing... Wait, what...? If he's a monster, aren't you worried?"

"Surprisingly not," the man shrugged. "You see him dance and you tell me if you think he's a threat?"

"I'll take that challenge," Duo said, starting to move off through the crowd. The rest of the rangers shrugging before following him, the task of getting to the front not taking too long. The first sights of the dancing Ambiance reaching them, the image enough to make them smile.

"Well, it stands to reason that not every monster would be a city destroying badass," Luke commented. "Ah, what a sight. I mean... How can something like that be evil?"

"I feel at peace inside," Ryan remarked. "I look at him and just know that everything is going to be fine."

Even as he made the comment, Ambiance began to speak.

"Greetings, everyone," he said. "I am Ambiance!"

"Go Ambiance!" someone yelled. "You rock harder than a cave full of Onix!"

"Why thank you," the monster replied, grinning at the crowd. "That makes all my problems all seem so small."

"Aww, he has problems!" someone else called. "How can we help?"

"Well, you're so kind as to ask," Ambiance said. "There are several items that I need to find. Rare artefacts, hidden all around the region."  
"Now wait a second!" Paige exclaimed. "Is he having a laugh? Why would a supposedly good monster need to find the Genesis artefacts?"

"Maybe he wants to use them to make the world a better place," Luke suggested, a completely straight look on his face. "Because..."

"Yeah, actually now you put it like that," the white ranger said. "I suppose it makes sense. Why did I ever doubt him?"

"To the Merlin Plateau!" Ambiance yelled, starting to dance his way ahead of the crowd. The people cheering instantly, before rushing to follow him.

* * *

Growling under his breath, Cobra Red brought his fist back and smashed it against the face of his enemy, the mysterious orange figure taking the blow with ease. Despite half of its face breaking and reforming, it didn't seem to take any damage.

"I'm so not in the mood for this crap," Cobra Yellow commented, launching a barrage of Poison Sting attacks at the orange figure in front of her. As it easily took the blow, it spun around and kicked her to the ground. Cobra Blue trying a Poison Jab against his opponent, only for that to do little damage and the orange figure to throw him into the air. Hitting the orange figure in front of him with a series of powerful fist strikes, Cobra Black wasn't really doing much better as his enemy took the attacks and forced him to the ground. Desperate not to go the same way, Cobra Purple hurled a roundhouse kick at her own opponent, only for the orange coloured figure to grab her leg and toss her aside like a ragdoll. Finally, Cobra Green grabbed one from behind, trying to crush it. The attack instantly failing as the orange figure broke free, back kicked him in the stomach before turning to hit him in the face. Hard.

"Stop!"

Hearing the command, the strange orange beings quickly melted away out of view, forming away into strange puddles of liquid. The six grounded Cobra Rangers looking at each other in surprise, before the outline of a figure appeared ahead of them. His appearance masked by shadows.

"Greetings," the figure remarked, walking into view. "Are you lost? Because if you are, go exactly back the way that you came."

"Is that meant to sound threatening?" Cobra Black demanded, looking over to the figure. Like most of the beings they tended to encounter, he was a humanoid with the head of a Gyrarados. The skin on his hands was a strange silver colour, while he wore the dark blue armour in the style of a Kyogre's body. Rather ostentatiously in the middle of the armour, there was a large red gem. The surface of the stone winking in the sunlight.

"I am not threatening you," he replied. "Just rather informing you that it will not end well, should you not leave this place right now."

"But, you called us here," Cobra Blue protested. "We sensed a disturbance. Some sort of Genesis energy."

"This Genesis energy, as you call it," the figure said. "Is not for you. It is for your opposites. So leave, or I will destroy you, for I am the Gyardian."

"Interesting play on the name Guardian," Cobra Purple commented. "But, it makes no difference. We want what you have!"

"You can't have it," the Gyardian answered. "You might want to get that through your heads, otherwise..."

"Do you know who we are?" Cobra Black demanded. "You should show some respect."

"You want respect?" the Gyardian asked, the ends of his arms starting to extend and shine, quickly growing out into a pair of large blades. "You earn it!"

Hurling himself forward, he began to attack. Taking the Cobra Rangers by surprise, he slashed Cobra Purple across the stomach, his blow forcing her back. As Cobra Green came in, he turned to kick him, the strike sending him up into the air before the Gyardian impaled him with both sword arms. Throwing him to the ground, he turned to block an attack from Cobra Blue with both blades, forcing them apart before kicking the Cobra in the head. Swinging both arms out in opposite directions, he landed devastating blows onto both Cobra's Black and Yellow before turning to face Cobra Red.

"As the leader of this bunch of rejects," he said. "I'm appealing to your better nature. That you'll see sense and walk the other way. Otherwise, I'll crush you all into the ground."

"You haven't got either the height or the weight," Cobra Red replied. "So, do your worst!"

Rolling his beady eyes in resignation, the Gyardian began to grow to a giant size. Easily towering up over the six figures below him.

"Still want me to do my worst?" he asked.

* * *

"Here we are!" Ambiance exclaimed, momentarily dancing on the spot before sweeping out an arm to gesture at the sight of the Merlin Plateau behind him. "The Merlin Plateau. One of these artefacts is here somewhere. Whoever finds it gets a private display of dancing so intense that it will blow your mind completely. The stakes are high, the prize is worth it."

"I'm going to find it first," Xavier said, glancing around. "I bet this is awesome. Plus, the chances are that one of us will find whatever it is. Because we do have experience in that department."

"Hey, what's that?" someone close to them asked, before altering their tone to a shout.. "Ambiance!"

"Yes?" the monster replied, casually. "What is it?"

This time, everyone present heard the shock waves ringing out through the ground. The outline of two giant shapes starting to appear over the outline of the mountain.

"What's that?" someone else asked, before Ambiance turned to look

"What the...?" the monster exclaimed, as the Silent Strike Megazord powered out onto the scene. Battling against the giant shape of the Gyardian, he quickly took a step back in surprise. "That's not..."

"Save us, Dancing Aipom!" someone in the crowd shouted. "We're all going to die otherwise!"

"If we ignore them, they'll ignore us," Ambiance insisted, turning his back on the scene. "Now, start..."

Rather than listen to him giving them orders, the group in front of him seemed more interested in watching the battle take place. The Silent Strike Megazord hitting out at the Gyardian with an Arbok ended hand, their opponent easily blocking the attack. Inside the cockpit, Cobra Red gave out the command.

"Tail Strikes!"

Whipping out with a vicious intent, the arms came crashing against the Gyardian's body. This time, the attacks dealing some damage to him, the Gyardian grimacing in pain. Slashing out with the blades at his arms, he managed to retaliate with some damage of his own, the evil rangers inside the cockpit all grimacing in pain.

"Acid!" Cobra Red roared, punching the console in front of him. "Now!"

Responding to his order, the stream of corrosive liquid erupted out of the hands of the Silent Strike Megazord, completely covering the Gyardian. The strange figure groaning in pain as he tried to shake it all off, just allowing enough time for the Cobra's to give off another command.

"Serpent Sabre!"

Managing to shake the acid out of his eyes, the Gyardian looked over to see the bladed weapon appearing in the hands of the evil Megazord. Bringing his own blades up, he blocked the initial slash before feeling the shock as the huge sword pushed his own aside.

"No!" he muttered, as the Serpent Sabre began to glow with a bright purple energy. "This can't be possible."

"Everything is possible!" Cobra Red snarled, giving the command. "Toxic Slash!"

Under his barked instruction, the blade came sweeping down onto the Gyardian. Breaking through his defenses, he felt himself start to shrink. Yet, able to summon up his remaining strength, he struck out with both blades. Crashing them against the body of the Silent Strike Megazord, he heard the screams as his enemy began to go down as well.

* * *

"No way!" Paige said, watching with shock as the two giant beings fell to the ground in front of them. The Silent Strike Megazord collapsing down into the form of the six Cobra Rangers, while the Gyardian returned to his normal size. All Cobra Rangers aside from their leader being surprisingly knocked out by the stress of the forced dis-assembly of the Megazord.

"You cannot stop me!" he exclaimed. "You will never hear my message. Never find the source of my power. It's not for you to own, it's for them alone."

"Then, you'll take it with you to your doom!" Cobra Red snarled, jumping up to engage the Gyardian. The being dodging his blows, before kicking him in the stomach.

"As long as evil is in your heart, you will not triumph," the Gyardian replied. "Because..."

Taking his opportunity, Cobra Red struck out and kicked him in the chest. Pushing forward, he grabbed the Gyardian by the throat.

"That evil makes me strong," he said, darkly. "What powers you?"

Making a snatch for the stone in the Gyardian's chest, the evil ranger closed his fingers around it. Grunting with the exertion as he pulled it free, the Gyardian's eyes instantly went white. As he slipped down to his knees, Cobra Red cracked a knee into his face, knocking him out cold.

"Is it this?" he wondered. "Because..."

Glancing down to the red jewel in his hand, the evil ranger quickly moved to hold it up for all to see. Streams of bright red energy rapidly racing down from the item, fusing into his system, Cobra Red began to glow with a red light. The crimson shade covering his entire body, ruby red spikes started to erupt out of his armour, making him look even more terrifying than usual.

"... You've got to give me the name of your supplier," he snickered, moving his expression around to look at Ambiance and the group of his followers. "And what are you all looking at?"

"One ugly ass beastie," Ambiance muttered, much to the chagrin of Cobra Red. The evil ranger taking a step forward, his demeanour showing barely concealed menace. Something even Ambiance seemed to finally recognise, as the monster let out a gulp of fear.

"Uh oh," he said. "Protect me, devoted mass..."

Getting to him before he could finish ordering the hypnotised group to protect him, Cobra Red struck. The sledgehammer blow raising Ambiance up off the ground, separating him from the group.

"You think we should help him?" Paige asked. "Because..."

"Ah, the mighty Ambiance can take him," Katie said. "Then we'll go and find the stones for him."

Jumping back up, Ambiance came to attack Cobra Red, wielding both his tails like a pair of boxing gloves. Not even bothered by the threat, Cobra Red easily kicked both of them aside before landing a Poison Jab into Ambiance's body. The monster screeching in pain as he fell back, before dropping to his knees in prayer.

"No! No! Oww! Oww! Please, no!"

"You're pathetic," Cobra Red snarled, both his fists starting to glow with a pulsating red energy. "Now, it's time for you to go!"

Striding across the short distance, he struck out twice, each fist landing one blow. The twin attacks forcing Ambiance up, before the right arm came up, centimeters from the monster's stomach.

"Poison Sting!"

Without even a pause, the barrage of bright red needles erupted out of the evil ranger's hand, searing straight through Ambiance's body. The force of the super charged attack completely decimating the dancing monster from sight, not even any remains left in sight from the blast. And, just as quickly, the hypotic hold he had held over the group instantly vanished. Turning to look at the group, Cobra Red let out a sinister laugh before vanishing from sight. Along with the rest of the recovering Cobra Rangers, leaving just the confused masses alone.

"What the...?"

* * *

"Who do you think he is?" Paige asked, looking down at the comatose form of the Gyardian. "Because..."

"I remember that he attacked the Cobra's," Luke said. "That makes him a good guy in my eyes."

"Just because he was fighting the Cobra's does not make him our ally," Xavier pointed out. "Plenty of Coppinger monsters have fought against the Cobra's. Didn't make them our friends."

"There's something different about him though," Ryan commented. "He went down when Cobra Red stole that stone from him. Which..."

"He has a point," Duo interrupted. "I mean... How many Coppinger created monsters have that much of an obvious weakness in them."

"How many good guys would?" Nahir retorted. "Then again, it's almost like it was the source of his power."  
"Which would probably lean towards him being a good guy, a friend," Ryan said. "So..."

"Anyway, it's not our choice," Paige remarked, looking around to Katie. "You're our leader. You make the choice, we'll follow it."

"Enemy of our enemy," Katie asked. "Especially since he made our enemy stronger. We need to find out what happened right now, and waiting for him to wake up... If he wakes up, is probably our best chance of finding out what happened to Cobra Red. Let's get him back to the Silver Gyarados."

* * *

"Wow," Bill said, folding his arms. "I can't believe that the dancing Aipom turned out to be a sinister tool of the Coppingers."

"They always have the ability to do something like this," Lance pointed out. "And since his dancing essentially hypnotised us..."

"It's over now," Katie said. "No point worrying about it at this point. My bigger concern is Cobra Red. What he took from the guy down below. It increased his power."

"Like he wasn't already powerful enough," Duo commented. "I'm glad it wasn't Cobra Black that took the power boost."

"You have to face up to the very real possibility that you are going to battle Cobra Red soon," Bill said. "And, with the power of the Gyardian behind him... I don't know if you'll be able to defeat him. I saw some of the battle footage after he took in the power of that stone... I estimate that his power levels have increased by about three times."

"When he wants me, I'll be there," Katie said. "I'm not going to avoid fighting him, just because it's suicidally reckless."

"That's the rousing leadership speech we wanted to hear," Xavier commented. "We're all right behind you."

* * *

Stood at the top of the building that he and the others Cobra Rangers had been using to hide out in, Cobra Red found himself looking out over the skyline. The power from the stone still coursing through him, he couldn't help but laugh as he jumped down from the edge. Feeling his body briefly fall through the air, he kicked his legs...

And was airborne. Taking flight, he began to soar through the night sky...

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Groan... That's not going to end well. But, it's going to make for an interesting next chapter. Also, there's no Cobra White. There probably won't be a Cobra White at all.**

**But yeah, Mal and Tim are back. How about that. If only for one scene. Meh.**

**Who is the Gyaradian? Other than some sort of guardian.**

**And the Cobra's help out again. Unwittingly. **

**Thanks for the reviews. All appreciated completely.**

**Next one... First of all, updates might not be as frequent from now on, because I go back to University tomorrow. But, there should still be at least one a week. Possibly two. But, the next one is entitled Katie's Passion. Preview below, up whenever. From the preview, make your own conclusions as to what happens and what piece of equipment she gets.**

**Okay, so thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review. I think Hawk can answer to this chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty Six, Katie's Passion, preview.**

**Duo: Wow, I can't believe she got beat by Lance.**

**Katie: This sucks.**

**Bill: Check this baby out. Almost as good as when you stole it.**

**Xavier: Does that even work? Can I use it?**

**Bill: Sorry, it's in tune with Katie's biometrics. So, only she can use it.**

**Cobra Red: Come and get me, Red Ranger.**

**Katie: Guess I've got a new trick up my sleeve.**

**Cobra Red: What?**

**Lance: This might be our only chance of helping the Gyardian.**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	26. Katie's Passion

Chapter Twenty Six. Katie's Passion.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As a strange video made its way across the Internet via Youtube, everyone became entranced by the charming video of the dancing Aipom on it. Lance, Bill, the rangers... Even Mal and Tim. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a Coppinger plot from Jake and Hawk who were using the Ambiance monster to hypnotise and entice people into following their will. Meanwhile, the Cobra Rangers set out to the Merlin Plateau in search of some strange power signals. As the rangers approached Ambiance, they fell under his sway and also travelled to the Merlin Plateau in a group to search for artefacts. At the same time, the Cobra Rangers were attacked by a strange figure known as the Gyardian. Even able to grow to a giant size, he faced the Silent Strike Megazord in battle. Yet, as the battle went back to ground level, Cobra Red managed to snatch the Gyardian's power source from him. Sending the original owner into a coma, and raising his own power levels, he destroyed Ambiance and freed everyone from his control. Later, the rangers reflected on who the Gyardian was while foreshadowing the future. All while Cobra Red discovered that he could fly with his new powers..._

_

* * *

_

"See, this is what having Pokémon is all about," Nahir said, watching the sights in front of her. She and everyone else on the Silver Gyarados, barring Bill, looking out to where the group had let their water type Pokémon out into the ocean. Lance's Red Gyarados and Dragonair, Katie's own Gyarados, her Vaporeon and Swampert, Duo's Feraligatr, Xavier's Blastoise, Paige's Wartortle and Ryan's Seadra. "None of that battling stuff, just watching the Pokémon in the ocean."

"If it turns nasty," Luke commented. "My money is on the Gyarados."

"Why?" Duo asked. "My Feraligatr has jaws of steel. It's not going to take much to bite through that big serpentine belly."

"You are joking, right?" Lance asked, as the Red Gyarados let out a roar of disagreement towards the black ranger. "Those scales are pretty thick. Your Feraligatr's jaws aren't going to get through that. Plus, my Gyarados knows Thunder. So, while you're trying to chew through his scales, you'll get zapped."

"Okay, you've got me there," Duo admitted, seconds before Lance's Red Gyarados let out a roar. Katie's Gyarados having invaded his personal space, diving towards a passing Goldeen, the Atrocious Pokémon apparently hungry. Snarling angrily, the Red Gyarados brought his tail up and struck Katie's Gyarados in the side of the face. The blow staggering the normal coloured Pokémon, the shiny Gyarados went in with a Crunch attack towards the exposed belly. Only for Katie's Vaporeon to leap up out of the water and hit the Red Gyarados in the face with a Giga Impact, the blow throwing it back a few feet. The Pokémon quickly recovering, before moving back into attack with savage fury. The fires of fury visible in his eyes as he tore through the water towards the other water Pokémon.

"Hey, calm it down," Lance said, recalling his Red Gyarados back to the Poké Ball. "That's..."

"What is wrong with your Gyarados?" Katie demanded. "It just flipped out and..."

"My Gyarados isn't the problem," the Dragon Master snapped. "Yours is. Invading the personal space of a Gyarados is a stupid thing to do, your own Gyarados should know better."

"Are you questioning the way I raise my Pokémon?"

"If you've got a problem with it," Lance said, glaring at her with hard eyes. "Then settle this the regular way? As trainers should do."

"On the battlefield?" Katie asked. "Be my guest."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The six rangers transform into their Eevee forms. Then, they transform into their Zords._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord and North Wind Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

"That's quite an impressive power boost," Cobra Blue commented, looking across to the landing form of Cobra Red. "I take it you aren't going to share it out with the rest of us."

"Don't think I can," Cobra Red replied, shrugging. "The power... It's a part of me now. I can't willingly give it up."

"Would you even want to?" Cobra Green asked, walking on over. "Because..."

"That's not your place to question," Cobra Red snapped. "Is it now?"

"I don't blame you," Cobra Green quickly said. "If it was the other way around, I'd be in exactly the same position."

"At least you're not a hypocrite," Cobra Yellow remarked. "That's good."

"When are we going to take out our revenge upon the rangers?" Cobra Purple asked, eagerly. "When are we going to take the fight to them? With your new powers, we will be able to destroy them all easily."

"Soon," Cobra Red said. "Soon. When the time is right and the moment comes."

* * *

"Dragonite, Dragon Claw!"

Roaring proudly, Lance's Dragonite swept its glowing white claws up through the air, smashing the large appendages against the bruised and battered body of Katie's Vaporeon. Much to the anger of the red ranger, as her Pokémon sailed up into the air, howling in pain from the attack.

"What the...?" Xavier exclaimed from the sidelines, as the Vaporeon landed on the ground, her face screwed up in pain as her body convulsed. "No!"

"Wow, I can't believe she got beat by Lance," Duo commented, watching the red ranger hold her Poké Ball up, making to recall her Vaporeon. The Dragon Master moving to give his Dragonite a pat on the neck, every present heard the Dragon Pokémon let out another roar of pride at his victory."

"Okay, well done on beating me," Katie remarked. "But, I still think you're wrong. That your Gyarados was out of order."

"You want to go again?" Lance demanded, before relenting. "Even though if this is anything to go by, I'm not going to change your mind in this way."

"Hey, guys!" Bill called, sticking his head out of a hatch in the middle of the deck. Nahir having to move to avoid been toppled over by the sudden rising of the section. "You all getting along nicely?"  
"Well, apart from the grudge rematch that we might be getting in a second," Ryan offered, helpfully. "If it keeps on going the way that it's currently going."  
"Ah, I see," the PokéManiac said, looking across to where Lance was stood with his Dragonite. "Good battle? Ah, I'm sure it was. So, if you guys want to come on down to my workshop, I'll show you something. Something quite special that I've been working on and is pretty much finalised."

"Ooh," Paige remarked. "Wonder what that can be?"

* * *

"Okay, while you guys were out..." Bill said, as they came into his workshop. "I was working and... Check this baby out."

Still grinning at them, he stepped aside to reveal the previously battered shape of the Hunter Glider. Now fixed, it sat on a stand, splendid in its bright new red paint job.

"Almost as good as when you stole it," the PokéManiac continued. "So, what do you think?"

"Does that even work?" Xavier asked. "I mean... Can I use it?"

"Sorry, no," Bill replied. "It's in tune with Katie's biometrics. So, only she can use it."

"Guess that the pain was worth it then," the red ranger commented. "It's awesome, Bill. Can I test it out? Give it a fly?"

"Ah..." he said, shiftily. "That may be a problem. See... Part of it was damaged and I haven't been able to fix that part."

"Which part was it?" Duo asked, a suspicious look passing across his face.

"The power source."

"Oh terrific," Luke commented. "So, it doesn't work?"

"Pretty much, that's the case," Bill said, sheepishly. "My point is that I rebuilt it. I just need to find a stable power source and then..."

"You wanting ideas?" Nahir asked. "How about nuclear power?"

"Tried it, didn't work," Bill replied. "Just letting you know that if I can crack this, we'll have another weapon on our side."

"That's something that we appreciate," Katie said. "But, if it doesn't have a power source, then..."

Interrupting her, the alarms started to ring out around the boat, Bill looking over to the makeshift console across from them. Video pictures of the attacking Cobra Rangers showing up on the monitor, he rolled his eyes. Most specifically at the sight of Cobra Red still wielding the power that he had stolen from the Gyardian.

"Guess you better hustle," he remarked. "Cobra's on the loose."

"Aww, there's no white one," Paige commented. "So... Do I stick or twist?"

"You can come if you want," Ryan said. "The more the merrier."

"I'm not thinking about that," Katie interrupted. "More that we could use the extra ranger if it gets nasty."

"Lucky me," the white ranger replied, wryly, as the seven of them brought their morphers up.

"Ah, your first taste of Cobra fighting action," Luke said, sarcastically. "They grow up so fast, don't they? Seems like only yesterday you were a disembodied ghost."

Before Paige could turn around to admonish him, Katie gave the command.

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

"Well, look who's here," Cobra Black taunted, as the seven rangers showed up on the scene to confront their arch nemeses. "Just in time."

"Which makes a change," Cobra Yellow snickered. "It's time, rangers."

"Come and get me, Red Ranger!" Cobra Red snickered, gesturing at Katie. "If you've got the courage!"

"Bring it on," Katie replied, quickly. "You might have that armour, but you're still one heck of a loser."

"Spikes are so last season," Paige added, trying to annoy the evil red ranger. "Are you trying to..."

Letting loose a roar of fury, Cobra Red brought his hand up to unleash a needle sharp barrage of Poison Stings towards Paige. The white ranger transforming herself into her energy form to evade the attack, she quickly sent herself soaring up into the air.

"Let's do this!" Xavier yelled, forcing himself into a fighting stance, focusing away to where Cobra Blue was. "Now!"

Moving in to engage the rangers, Cobra Purple hurled a punch at Luke who stooped back away from it to kick her hand up. As she winced in pain, he slammed his own fist into her stomach, forcing a snarl from her. Swiping out at him, he quickly summoned the Psycho Spear and blocked her blow, turning on the spot to slash at her with his own weapon. Hearing it scrape against her armour as she couldn't quite dodge, he followed up to hit her with the bottom of the weapon. Only for her to grab it in both hands and twist him around to the ground.

Meanwhile, Duo was fighting Cobra Black, the two of them trading blows and unwilling to give an inch. Roaring with laughter, Cobra Black brought up a Poison Jab to try and cripple his black ranger opponent, only for Duo to jump back and bring his Shadow Sabre out. Cutting through the air, he landed a pair of blows upon Cobra Black, the evil ranger growling in pain as he blocked both attacks with his elbows.

Across from him, Ryan and Cobra Green were scrapping angrily, embraced in a battle of trading blows. As the evil green ranger hit him in the face, Ryan kicked him in the side before following up with a reverse of the attack that had just hit him. Not fazed by the attack, Cobra Green jumped up and planted both feet into the green ranger's stomach with a powerful double kick. As Ryan flew back, Cobra Green made to follow him.

Elsewhere, Nahir sprang up to hit Cobra Yellow, her surprise attack taking the evil yellow ranger unaware. Kicking out, Cobra Yellow managed to force Nahir back, the yellow ranger not letting up as she brought out her Storm Staff and sent a flurry of lightning quick blow towards her opponent. The strikes sweeping out across her, Cobra Yellow managed to shrug them all off and hurl a powerful punch towards Nahir. Only for her to dodge it and kick Cobra Yellow in the stomach.

Finally, Xavier began his battle with Cobra Blue. As the evil blue ranger struck out towards him with a kick, Xavier grabbed his boot and tried to twist him to the ground. Only for Cobra Blue to recover faster than he had expected and send him into a reversal. As Xavier hit the ground, he immediately saw his opponent make to go for him with an elbow drop. Rolling aside, he heard the crack of Cobra Blue's elbow against the ground, the evil ranger wincing in pain at the sensation. To rub salt into the wound, Xavier spun around on the ground and kicked him in the face.

* * *

Not really noticing what was going on around her, Katie saw Cobra Red retreating from the battle. Heading away from the rest of them, she quickly went to follow him.

Finding him a good twenty meters away from the battle, he brought his hand up to gesture rudely at her. Taunting her, the attack momentarily blinding her with fury, Katie charged towards him. Bringing both Heat Blasters up, she sent a flurry of small fire balls towards him, Cobra Red making the block them with a brutal blast of Poison Sting attacks. Still trying to move forward against the barrage of attacks, Katie too late realised that he was trying to sucker her in. Completely suckered by his movement, she barely saw him move aside and hit her in the side with a Poison Jab. As she yelled in pain, almost dropping to her knees from the force of the attack, Cobra Red followed up with a knee to her face.

"I was expecting..." he said, grabbing her up by the throat and hurling her against the ground. "... More of a challenge."

Drastically and desperately trying to recover, Katie barely managed to get half way up off the ground. Before another blow came from her opponent, smashing her back against the ground.

"I didn't say that you could get up," he whispered, sadistically. "And..."

Bringing his foot up, positioning it above her spine, she could hear it in his voice.

"... This'll keep you down," he snickered. "Bit of a premature end, but what..."

Streaking through the air, the ball of white energy hit Cobra Red in the chest, throwing him back. And as Paige reformed out of the energy, she instantly went for him, throwing a kick at his chest. Taking the blow, Cobra Red hurled a Poison Jab at the white ranger, Paige leaping up to dodge him before kicking out with a roundhouse.

"This isn't your fight," the evil red ranger snarled, throwing another attack towards Paige. This time making contact, the blow threw her straight to the ground. "This isn't going to work."

"What's the matter?" Katie groaned. "Can't face two of us at once?"

"Facing two of you at once isn't part of my plan," he replied. "It's destroy you first and the rest of you after. I'll be back soon, Red Ranger. Don't miss me too much."

With those words, he vanished. Followed quickly by the rest of the Cobra Rangers, the remaining rangers quickly looked around at each other in relief.

* * *

"Well, this sucks," Katie muttered, rubbing an ice pack against one of the wounds, one on her jaw. "Honestly, I can't believe what just happened."

"You're telling me," Paige groaned. "He's tough."

"You shouldn't have gotten involved, Paige," the red ranger snapped. "I could have..."

"Calm it down," Lance said, quickly. "Paige was only trying to help you out. If she hadn't, one of you could have been seriously injured, rather than two of you just taking a less than serious beating."

"Either way, Cobra Red is my responsibility, he called me out to fight."

"Just because he did so doesn't mean that..."

"Cut the crap, Lance," Katie replied. "We all know what it means. It means that I have to beat him, no matter the cost."

"With those power levels..." Bill said. "Hate to break it to you, but he's stronger than you. Faster. Possibly smarter, and he can fly."

"So, you're saying that I should give up?"

"No, I'm saying that you know what you're up against now," Bill replied. "And forewarned is forearmed. He shows up again, you stick the Hunter Glider on him."

"I thought that it wasn't working," Luke commented. "That you couldn't find a power source for it."  
"Actually, I said that I couldn't find a stable power source," the PokéManiac replied. "I've tried several unreliable ones, none able to power it up on semi permanent basis. Best that I can get is possibly one use."

"Can it defeat him? Drive that power out of him?" Katie asked.

"Honestly, I don't know," Bill replied. "Only one way to find out."

"Either way," Lance said. "This might be our only chance of helping the Gyardian."

As the somber words came out of his mouth, the alarms started to ring out again. The images showing a picture of a lone Cobra Red, the signs of his power still visible upon his body, as he called out from the top of a building.

"Red Ranger!" he roared. "Come out and face me! I'm waiting! If you don't show up, I'm going to get annoyed. And when I get annoyed, people are going to get hurt. Just you and me, nobody else."

"Guess I'm back on the morphing trail then," Katie groaned. "Time to do this."

"Remember," Bill said, his expression slightly uneasy as he smiled at her. "All you have to do is call and I'll send the Hunter Glider for you."

"That's really reassuring," Katie replied, rolling her eyes. "Might be the best news I've heard all day."

"That's what we're doing," Duo said. "Before you go off to die, we at least put a smile on your face."

"Now I really feel good," the red ranger muttered, bringing her morpher up. "Genesis Overload!"

* * *

Jumping down out of her Hover Chaser, the first thing she heard was the sarcastic applause from the shape of Cobra Red across from her.

"Welcome," he said. "I didn't think you were going to show up. I was just about to go and make someone's day a whole lot worse."

"Good thing I showed up then," she replied. "So, are we going to do this?"

"I've defeated you. Time and time before," Cobra Red snickered. "What makes you think that this time is going to be any different.

"Guess I've got a new trick up my sleeve," Katie said. "A good one."

"What?" he replied, shocked. His shock quickly becoming replaced with sarcasm. "I'm really scared, you know that?"

"Your choice," she said. "Hunter Glider!"

* * *

"Here goes nothing," Bill commented, hitting a few buttons on the console in front of him. The securings holding the Glider out on deck loosening, it soared up into the air to head out to see. "And let's hope it doesn't crash into the ocean."

* * *

Watching as the Hunter Glider started to sail down through the air towards her, Katie jumped up and into it. Securing herself in, she began to hover in the air, several feet above Cobra Red.  
"I was expecting something more impressive," Cobra Red sneered, bringing his hand up. "Is that..."

Unleashing a needle sharp attack towards the Hunter Glider, Katie both felt and heard the attacks scrape against her wings. Apart from a few dents, the damage didn't seem that severe, certainly not enough for her to retreat.

"Hmmm, interesting," Cobra Red remarked. "But, is that all?"

Even as he spoke, giving her the challenge, Katie looked down to her morpher. Seeing it glowing with a red energy, she reached down to his the activation key.

"Not even close," she replied calmly, before her body became enveloped in flames. Flames that quickly faded away, as the transformation began. The red energy at her morpher spreading out across her body, she momentarily transformed into a living rendition of a Charizard. Similar to the way that she did when morphing into her Zord form, it only lasted for a second before she returned back to ranger form. Only with some new armour visible, the Charizard's head remaining, her helmet within its mouth with the rest of the face surrounding it. The wings of the Hunter Glider became part of her body, taking on the constitution of actual Charizard wings. Under her suit, her muscles grew larger, while a cream coloured oval formed on her stomach. Across her chest, a metallic silver band came across, while her gloves and boots hardened and grew claws at the end. The claws on her gloves extending out over her fingers as she landed on the rooftop and took a fighting stance.

"Red Hunter Ranger!"

* * *

"Okay, wow!" Bill said, looking at the scene in front of him. All the other rangers behind him clearly in awe at the sight of the new armour that Katie was wearing. "That's..."

"Heh," Ryan commented, tapping Xavier in the stomach. "Guess you're suddenly not so special anymore. If that's what I think it is."  
"I still think mine was cooler," the blue ranger muttered, grumpily. "By a mile."

"Because it's not like you're biased in any way at all," Nahir pointed out.

* * *

"So..." Cobra Red commented, some of his previous cocky demeanour gone. Replaced more with caution. "You've got a new weapon."

"Damn skippy," Katie replied. "And I'm just dying to test it out. See what it can do."

Letting out a pair of ironic laughs, Cobra Red brought his hand up to make a taunting gesture at her.

"Then, spin the wheel," he taunted, running towards her. Jumping up, he threw a roundhouse kick at his opponent, Katie leaping up off the ground to evade the attack. Plunging down into a diving formation, she brought her claws up.

"Hunter Slash!"

Hurling herself through the short distance, she sent a pair of powerful slashes into Cobra Red's stomach. Her attacks digging deep, the evil ranger staggered back in pain, several of the spikes on his suit having shattered off. Their remains crumbling into dust as they hit the ground, Cobra Red groaning in agony. Managing to recover, he moved to attack again. Bringing his hand up to fire another blast of Poison Sting rounds in retaliation, Katie quickly came out with a countering move of her own.

"Hunter Beam!"

The new armour responding instantly to her command, the edges of the visor on her helmet started to glow with energy, before unleashing a multicoloured blast of red, blue and green energy through the air towards Cobra Red. The blast easily punching straight past the Poison Sting attacks, dispelling them, the evil red ranger groaned in pain as he dropped to his knees. Even more of his armour breaking away, several shards shattering straight against the stone surface of the roof. Puffs of red energy swarming out of the wounds, the power he had stolen from the Gyardian slowly draining away from him.

"You can't stop me," he groaned, getting back to his feet. "Not like this! I refuse to let this happen."

Tensing his legs, he moved slightly into a crouch, before rocketing up off the ground. Taking flight, he hovered several feet above the ground, glaring down at Katie.

"Catch me if you can!"

With that, he turned to accelerate away through the sky. The regular red ranger not hesitating to follow, her new wings taking her up away after him.

* * *

Not having to keep up with him for long, Cobra Red eventually brought himself to a halt above a large area of grassland. Katie looking down to see the ground below, probably easily at least a mile. The extreme height enough to make her gulp slightly in worry, before she focused her attention away onto the Cobra.

"How skilled are you with those?" he asked, hovering about ten feet away from here. The moderately powerful winds forcing him to speak louder than normal. "Because, I wouldn't want you to fall and hit the ground before I have a chance to destroy you."

"You've been flying for all of twenty four hours and suddenly you're a Pidgey?" Katie shot back. "Come on and get me. If you think that you can hit me in this..."

Leaving her taunt hanging, she saw Cobra Red come for her. Rushing through the air to hit her, like a Pidgeot forcing out its Aerial Ace. Flaring her wings out, she caught a gust of wind and soared away. Coming back out onto the inside to slash out with her claws again, her attack hitting her opponent in the back. As he let out a roar of pain, he rolled over to try and land a kick on her. The attack partially successful as it caught her in the side of the face, knocking her over. She probably fell about fifty feet through the air before recovering her composure. Only to see Cobra Red bulleting through the air towards her, both arms out to try and impale her. Quickly moving, she caught a draft and evaded the strike. Barely. Taking a deep breath, she accelerated towards her opponent, moving in to grab him from behind. Something that surprised him, as she locked both his arms together in a hold, rendering him unable to move. Bringing her other arm up around his throat, she began to fly again, accelerating around and around in rapid circles. The force dizzying the evil ranger, she finally broke out of what seemed like the fiftieth consecutive circle and shot up into the sky. Breaking her ascent, she started to power down towards the ground, using the power of gravity to speed up her descent. The sounds of the sickened Cobra Red ringing through the air as the distance towards the ground passed in a matter of seconds. With the trip nearly over, Katie picked up her speed, the final stretch of the journey almost over...

... And smashed him into the ground. The Cobra Ranger letting out a weak groan of pain as he lay in a crumpled pile, a small crater having formed underneath him.

"And that's my Orbital Toss," she taunted, landing on the ground across from him. Her armour vanishing away, the Hunter Glider returning to the Silver Gyarados.

* * *

"Guess you might as well get on down there," Bill said, glancing at another open window on his monitor. The main one showing the battle taking place, the one he was looking at seemed to be showing something else. "I'm picking up Genesis energy readings approaching. Might be the other Cobra's. And, I don't fancy Katie to be able to beat the five of them on her own."

"We'll go get on our way then," Xavier replied. "You think Cobra Red is done for?"

"Hard to say," Bill answered, as the six rangers brought their morphers up. Duo quickly giving the morphing command.

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

Walking over to the crater where her practically defeated opponent lay, Katie noticed the Gyardian's gem at her feet. It apparently having reformed at some point.

"Suppose that you couldn't handle it," she said, bending down to pick it up. "I'm going to return this to the right owner."

"This isn't over," Cobra Red groaned, managing to crawl up onto all fours. "This..."

"Guess you're not looking too clever now," Cobra Green commented, as he and the other evil rangers arrived onto the scene. Their gazes instantly moving to their defeated leader. "That's unfortunate for you."

"My power has left me!" Cobra Red growled, beating his fist against the ground. "No! But, I'm not about to let this go!"

Slowly rising to his feet, he and the other five rangers began to shine with energy, seconds before transforming into their Megazord.

"Uh oh," Katie groaned, taking a step back. "Now this is just..."

"Katie!"

Looking around, the sensations of relief passing through her system were instant as the other rangers arrived onto the scene.

"You okay?" Duo asked, before the giant machine across from them began to move into an attacking position.

"Aww man," Xavier commented, looking up at the sight of the Silent Strike Megazord above them. "That's so not cool. And kinda annoying."

"I'm not about to rain on your parade," Paige said. "You guys go on and take them on. You know you want to. If you need the help..."

"Fine!" Katie shouted. "Time to transform!"

The six of them morphing into their Eevee forms, she quickly gave out another order.

"Overload Zords! Megazord formation!"

Under the command, the six Zords turned into their robot forms and began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbs and tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. Standing up, it took up a fighting stance.

"You're going down!" Katie shouted, moving the Megazord into an attacking position. Directing it into throwing several punches at the Silent Strike Megazord, all the attacks landing without fail. The Silent Strike Megazord unfazed by the attacks, it quickly retaliated with some attacks of its own, the blows slightly more damaging but still not by much.

"We're not going to get anywhere fast with this," Katie said, the Overload Megazord striking out with a less than effective kick attack. "Luke, give it to them."

"At once, ma'am," the purple ranger called. "Psycho Punch!"

At Luke's command, the Megazord's Espeon arm came up and struck out with a psychic type energy backed punch. The blow doing some noticeable damage to the body of the Silent Strike Megazord, as a series of dents appeared on the chest.

"You want to play that way?" Cobra Red demanded. "Tail Strikes!"

Responding to the order, the arms of the Silent Strike Megazord came out to repeatedly whip against the Overload Megazord. As sparks shot up inside the cockpit, Katie quickly managed to issue another order.

"Genesis Blaster!" she yelled, hitting several buttons in front of her. "Now!"

Reaching down to the Vaporeon leg, the Megazord brought the blaster out of the holster-like compartment there. Quickly levelling it at the Silent Strike Megazord, a large metal finger moved to close around the trigger.

"Think we're going to try... a Charge Beam!" Katie shouted, the Overload Megazord pulling the trigger to send a bright yellow beam of electricity pulsing through the air and into the Silent Strike Megazord. Seeing the other machine momentarily paralyzed by the attack, the red ranger quickly moved to give the order for another attack.

"Genesis Staff!"

Bringing its hands up to the empty air, the Staff appeared in the hands of the Megazord. Moving it up, the machine slashed away at the Silent Strike Megazord with the Genesis Staff, leaving several cuts within it from the blade.

"My sensors are telling me that they're losing power," Nahir offered. "We go for them now and it could drive them over the edge."

"What about our own power levels?" Ryan asked. "Because..."

"A reading says that our systems are okay," Xavier replied. "We can do this."

"Ditto that comment," Duo said. "Go for it Katie, give them hell!"

"Thought you'd never ask," she said, wryly. "Element Overload."

With the Megazord moving the Genesis Staff up, the blade at the end began to glow with energy. Slashing down six times against the chest of the Silent Strike Megazord, each slash glowing with a single colour as usual, the rangers watched the enemy Megazord implode slightly. The robotic structure disassembling and the Cobra Rangers returning to their normal forms.

"That did it!" Luke yelled. "Nice one."

Picking himself up off the ground, Cobra Red shook his fist at the Overload Megazord, anger in his demeanour.

"This isn't over, rangers!" he yelled, before vanishing along with the rest of the Cobra Rangers.

"Didn't think it would be," Ryan muttered. "Anyone else?"

"Not really," Nahir said. "Although we can think wishfully."

"Come on, guys," Katie called, looking down to the Gyardian's stone in her lap. "We've got something to return to someone."

* * *

"Congratulations on mastering the Hunter Glider," Bill said, as Katie and the other rangers arrived in the makeshift infirmary where they had been holding the Gyardian. The red ranger holding the stone in her hand as she came in. "That was really impressive, I had no idea it could do that."

"Thanks," the red ranger replied. "Pity that it's more or less useless now that it lacks a power source."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Lance said. "Anyway, Bill and I have a feeling that if you use that on the Gyardian, it should restore him."

"What are we waiting for then?" Nahir asked, as the red ranger moved towards the bed where the figure lay. Bringing the red power stone up, she dropped it into place where it had previously been. When she and the others had seen him fight against the Cobras in a recent battle, it had stuck in her head. The relic instantly fusing back into place against the Gyardian's chest, it began to shine. Just a few seconds later, the mysterious figure's eyes opened up, glancing over to the red ranger.

"Ah," he said, reaching down to pat at the gem. "That's good. Excellent."

"Are you okay?" Katie asked, smiling at the Gyardian. "Because..."

"You are the one who helped me?" the figure asked. "Thank you. I am the Gyardian..."

"We get that," Luke muttered, slightly sarcastically. Nahir instantly stamping on his foot as he made the comment, the purple ranger wincing in pain at her action.

"... And I appreciate your help," he finished, ignoring Luke. "Thank you."

"No problem," Katie replied. "It was nothing. Just a day in the life..."

"Oh now, I'm really touched," the figure said. "Now, because of your efforts to help me, I request that the rest of your friends leave. I am about to impart to you my secrets, and it's something I will do to you only. However, I don't have a problem if you tell them after."

"Oh come on!" Ryan protested. "We all played our part in helping you."

"I'm sorry, but that's protocol," the Gyardian said, sadly. "I can only tell it to one who truly deserves it. I am bound by the laws of the Genesis Book, by the laws of time and space."

"Guys," Katie ordered. "I'll tell you all after. Just... Give us a moment."

A few grumbles ringing out through the group, the rest of the rangers, plus Lance and Bill began to make their way towards the exit.

* * *

With the door closing behind the departing rangers, the Gyardian began to speak again.

"I knew of the Cobra Rangers," he remarked. "I knew that Cobra Red could in theory react with the power in the way that he did. Which was why I tried to mask it from him."

"You did a great job of it," Katie commented. "The other Cobra's latched onto the scent, leading him straight to the Merlin Plateau."

"Which is where you make the mistake," the Gyardian said. "It was not me that they followed, but rather the energy readings from what I guard. There's an artefact on that mountain. All you have to do is find it, but for that..."

Reaching down into a compartment of his armour, he brought out a strange silvery blue stone, the thing winking in the light as he held it up.

"... You will need this to do so. To contain the thing inside."

"I guess that we owe you our thanks then," Katie said. "For that."

"And, I think that there's something else I can do for you," the Gyardian continued, placing his hands around the red gem in his chest. "Your Battlizer..."

"I suppose that's what it was," the red ranger replied. "Cool. It's just hit me."

"... It lacks a power source," the Gyardian said, grunting to pull out his stone. "Something that I believe I can help you with."

"Wait, don't do that," Katie interrupted, making to stop him. "You'll lapse back into a coma if you..."

"If you go and grab that artefact, I'll be a Gyardian with nothing to guard," he said. "The seven of you will be a better protector of it than I. Especially when you use this as a power source."

"What will happen to you?" she asked. "If you go into a coma, then..."

"My body will crumble into dust," he said. "But my role in this is done now. Your task isn't going to get any easier, you'll need all the help that you can get. Help I can only provide in death."

"That's melodramatic."

"But accurate," he replied. "So... I'm giving it to you, whether you want it or not. It's not your choice."

Letting out a final groan, he yanked the gem free of his stomach. His promise instantly fulfilled as his body started to crumble away to dust. Katie reaching out to catch the only remaining trace as it fell from his grasp. The power contained within the gem starting to gush out, travelling into her system. The sensation lasting for the best part of ten seconds, until, like its previous owner, it crumbled under her grasp. The last remnants of the power flashing into her morpher, the item shimmering with a bright red light.

"Guess that's that then," she muttered. "Oh well. Back to the Plateau..."

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Actually, just on quick reflection, I don't remember if Gyarados can learn Thunder or not through TM. But, it wouldn't be the first time that Lance has owned a Pokémon that knows a move it should never use. The words Dragonite and Barrier spring to mind.**

**Woo... Katie has her Battlizer. Maybe I could have used an actual monster for this chapter, rather than have a smackdown with Cobra Red... Meh, I think it works. **

**For the record, the finisher of the Battlizer is based on the anime where Charizard used to be able to beat practically any opponent by using Seismic Toss on them. (Even Articuno, lol). This is more or less the same principle.**

**Thanks for the reviews. They are all appreciated.**

**The Gyardian is gone... No! Oh well, you probably don't care. He's probably not going to be back.**

**Well, we're over the half way point now. Not too long now until I start to reveal what it shall be I'm doing for the next Poké Rangers story I come up with.**

**Anyway, the next one will more or less pick up where this left off. Entitled The Persistence Of Platinum, it should be up soon and the preview is below.**

**Can't really think of much else, so thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review. Please! Katie (Who else?) is replying today.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Twenty Seven, The Persistence Of Platinum, preview.**

**Luke: On the road again!**

**Xavier: This is one pretty big mountain.**

**Paige: Where are we likely to find an artefact on it?**

**Ryan: This is frustrating. How are we supposed to get it?**

**Harley: Miss us?**

**Xavier: There has to be some sort of way of getting this.**

**Katie: Or not.**

**Xavier: I'm going to do this!**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	27. The Persistence Of Platinum

Chapter Twenty Seven. The Persistence Of Platinum.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_After the encounters with Ambiance and the Cobra Rangers, the rangers returned to the Silver Gyarados where they let their water Pokémon out into the ocean. Yet, a nice moment was ruined when a fight broke out between the two Gyarados and Katie's Vaporeon. Stung by Lance's reaction, he and Katie battled briefly over the spat. Meanwhile, Bill finally fixed up the Hunter Glider, only to admit that he couldn't work out how to power it on a regular basis. The reappearance of the Cobra's sent the rangers out to battle them, Cobra Red with his new power easily beating both Katie and Paige in combat. As the rangers retreated to the Silver Gyarados, Bill told Katie to use what little power the Hunter Glider had. Facing Cobra Red again, Katie unleashed the weapon onto him, using it to transform into the Red Hunter Ranger. Utilising all her attacks she managed to defeat Cobra Red and force the stolen power out of him. After a brief battle with the Silent Strike Megazord, Katie returned the gem to the comatose Gyardian who told her where to find the next artefact and gave her his gem to act as a power source for her Battlizer. Then, he vanished into dust..._

_

* * *

_

"That's technically incredible," Bill said, finishing the simple act of running his scanner across the surface of Katie's morpher. "If I hadn't seen it, if the proof wasn't in front of me here, I wouldn't believe it."

"That unlikely huh?" the red ranger asked. "Really?"

"All I can say is that the Gyardian was not lying," Bill replied. "Your morpher is powered up to the full, the connection between it, you and the Hunter Glider now stronger than ever."

"Which is handy," Duo offered. "The odds just came a little more into our favour."

Across from them, Xavier was looking at the other stone that the Gyardian had given to Katie. Running another one of Bill's multi-purpose scanners across it, a confused look upon the blue ranger's face.

"Ah, Bill?" he asked. "I don't really want to worry you, but there's no Genesis energy coming from this thing. Not a lot, anyway. It's almost like it's being blocked by something."

"Really?" the PokéManiac wondered, coming over to see. Katie quickly putting her morpher back under her sleeve. "Well, that can't be quite right."

Bringing his own scanner out, the one that he had been using to analyse the new readings from Katie's morpher, the confused Bill began to check the stone with the item.

"I can see where you're coming from," he said. "But, it's not an outside force... It's more..."

Taking the stone from Xavier, he began to scratch at the surface of it. Wincing slightly at the rough skin of the item, he held it up to reveal a clear dot of blue against the silver.

"This silver stuff is blocking the signal," he announced. "Which is why we're not getting the whole thing. We need to scrape and scratch and rub it clean. Any volunteers?"

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord and North Wind Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

"Can't we just use some sort of industrial cleaner on it?" Duo wondered. "Get rid of the covering that way?"

"I don't know if that will work," Bill admitted. "When I was scanning it, I analysed the construction of the compound. It contains several elements whose components are almost indentical to those that will react with liquids, you try it and it'll explode in your hand. I honestly don't know how powerful that will be without some sort of test, but I would theorise that it would be enough to shatter the structural integrity of the stone."

"Meaning...?" Katie asked, glancing over.

"Kaboom."

"Not it," Duo said, quickly.

"Not it," Katie quickly repeated, even as Xavier was halfway through speaking.

"Not... Damnit."

"Guess you lose out," Duo commented, heading for the exit. The red ranger quickly following him. "Be careful with that, Xavier."

"Thanks a bunch," the blue ranger muttered. "Bastards."

* * *

"So, we know where to go," Nahir said, summarising the whole extent of Katie's conversation with the Gyardian. "Why aren't we heading over to the Merlin Plateau right now?"

"The way I interpreted it," Katie replied, slowly. "I don't think that we'll be able to find it without that stone. And in its current form, it's useless. Which is why Xavier is currently buffing it up to get that explosive material away from it."

"You've got to give whoever thought of that credit," Ryan commented. "It's like one of those scrolls where if you can't open it, the parchment gets pulped. It's almost ingenious."

"I'm sure whoever came up with it appreciates the sentiment," Paige remarked. "But, did they have to do it that way? It's annoying."

"Presumably, a less patient person would just hurl it in the water where it would explode," Luke said. "Which..."

"So, why don't we just blow it then?" Duo asked. "If it's toast, then that would stop the Coppingers from getting..."  
"I don't think that's a good idea," Lance offered. "You might think that it has exploded, it might vanish from view. But, who would really know what happened to it? It could just vanish and reappear several hundred miles away. At least this way, we use it to get whatever surprise is being hidden, we will stay in control of its fate."

"Unless something attacks the Silver Gyarados," Nahir said. "Then, we might have a problem retaining them."

"That's just not something that I'm caring to think about," Katie replied. "If that comes up, then we'll have to deal with it then."

* * *

"How's it going?" Bill asked, looking over to where Xavier was still rubbing at the silver stone. Nearly half of the silvery material having gone from the top surface of the item, a strange light blue colour replacing it underneath. "Good?"

"I'm getting there," Xavier replied, grumpily. "Still don't get why we couldn't just use your sanding machine."

"I already told you that it could damage it beyond recognition," Bill said. "This is probably the safest way of keeping the structure of the stone intact and not damaging it. But then again, you probably remembered that. You're probably just saying that because you're annoyed at having to do the job."

"Really, you think?"

"Well, you're doing a good job," Bill said. "Sorry about insisting that you do it in here, but I really don't want you scattering explosive material across the boat."  
"I know..." Xavier groaned. "This is just starting to annoy me."

"Patience is a virtue."

* * *

"Meredith, dear!"

Looking over to where Harley was calling her, Meredith raised her eyebrow in anticipation.

"Dear?" she asked. "Since when did you go for the sentimental approach of calling someone."

"What do you think?" he wondered, not answering her question. "The report from Jake and Hawk said that the Cobra's were investigating the Merlin Plateau."

"I thought it would be beyond the abilities of the Cobra's to do anything as subtle as investigation," Meredith replied, caustically. "Their only way is to go at it with brute force."

"Still, just because that is their way doesn't mean they're wrong," Harley said. "I think we should check out the Merlin Plateau."

"I'm surprised that Hawk and Jake didn't already do that," Meredith commented. "Because... Well, it seems strange that they wouldn't."

"Apparently, they were putting another scheme into place," Harley replied, glancing down at the screen in front of him. The report in front of him, he quickly started to paraphrase it aloud. "Something about a dancing Aipom, the Cobra's Megazord appeared on the horizon fighting another large being. None of us are laying claim to having created the being, which must mean that it's something else."

"That does sound promising," Meredith remarked, her eyes lighting up. "I think we should send a monster to check it out."

"Easy for you to say," Harley muttered. "I'm the one who has to create these things. Let's see... Something beautiful but deadly. And able to fight in a rocky environment."

Moving over to the desk, he plucked a Poké Ball up and opened the item. The capsule snapping open to reveal a Roserade on the desk. Not hesitating, Harley brought his hand up and poked it in the back of the head with his stingers. The Roserade letting out a shriek of pain before starting to glow with a white light, the sign of its forced transformation quickly becoming apparent.

"Rosix!" Harley said, as the light faded. The monster still had green skin, but now it had taken on more of a rock-like texture. An Onix tail could be seen at her rear, while a singular grey horn emerged from her head. Apart from that, she could still be told as a Roserade.

"What do you need?" she asked. "Because I'm here to serve you both?"

"Go to the Merlin Plateau!" Harley ordered. "Go there and find what artefact is hidden there. If any..."

"I shall not rest until I have found it," Rosix replied, before vanishing away in a flurry of stony leaves. Her presence leaving Harley and Meredith alone, looking at each other.

"It makes a change to get good help," Harley commented. "Really, it does."

* * *

"Okay, check it," Xavier said, coming into the room. The now entirely clean stone in his hand, the whole thing the palest shade of blue. "This is what was so... Thanks for the volunteering of help by the way."

"Ah, you've done such a good job," Luke remarked. "What the hey, anyone else doing it would have been a disaster."

"True," Nahir said. "He does have a point."

"Way to take one for the team," Ryan piped up. "We've all done it."

"Some of us take more for the team than others," the blue ranger commented, dryly. "Okay, so I ran the scanner across it before coming over here, it's giving off a whole mother load of Genesis energy. I think if we take it to the Merlin Plateau, we'll find something."

"I enjoy so much going out on hunches," Paige said, sarcastically. "Really brightens up my day."

"Okay, okay," Katie interrupted, getting up. "Let's get over and see what we can find. Because, there's obviously something there to find."

"To the Hover Chasers then," Xavier said, dropping the stone in his pocket. "Hit the sky."

* * *

"On the road again!" Luke sang, leaning back in his Hover Chaser. "That's what we are, just moving through the sky, on the road again!"

"If we're in the sky?" Duo called over. "Then how can we be on the road again?"

"Don't call me on these things," the purple ranger protested. "I'm just enjoying the ride."

"You ever think that there's maybe a big telescope or something listening in on us?" Nahir asked. "Because, it wouldn't be needed. You two can be heard from the ground."

"Why would a telescope be listening in on us?" Duo asked. "They're mainly used for spying on people from distances."

"Well, you might be using them for that purpose," Paige quipped. "But, the rest of the general population uses them to look at the stars. Or something to that effect."

"Maybe look at the Merlin Plateau for a while," Xavier offered. "From... I don't know Holimar City or something."

* * *

"Ah, it's been a while since we were here," Katie said, stretching out her arms. "And last time we were, lest we forget what happened."

"The dancing Aipom?" Duo asked. "We're not forgetting that any time soon."

"Man, this is one pretty big mountain," Xavier remarked, glancing up around him. Ignoring what Duo had said as he did so. "I mean... It's..."

"Where are we likely to find an artefact on it?" Paige asked, finishing his question for him. "It's like looking for... Well, I don't want to say a needle in a haystack, but..."

"Only one way," Katie said. "The usual. Split up and search. Xavier can keep the artefact on him, but if anyone else finds it, give him a call and we'll all meet up there. We'll go three groups, two with two, one with three."

"Okay," Xavier replied. "I'll go with Ryan."

"I'm honoured," the green ranger muttered.

"Nahir, you and Luke go that way," Katie said. "Rest of us go the final way and meet when we have something."

* * *

"You know what I hate?" Paige muttered. "Hiking. I'm considering taking the rest of the trip in energy form."

"Ah, there's nothing too bad about hiking," Duo said. "As long as we don't encounter any crazed Hikers."

"Don't tempt fate," Katie groaned. "I'm really hoping that we don't see those guys. We've got enough craziness with Duo here."

"Now, what makes you think that I'm crazy?" the black rangers asked. "I'm just..."

"Come on, Duo," Paige said. "We're not going to judge you. We already know you well enough to avoid that."

"Oh ha ha."

* * *

"Where do you think that we're meant to look here?" Ryan asked, as Xavier reached into his pocket and brought the pale blue stone out. The one that he had spent the entire morning scraping clean.

"Maybe the stone acts as a guide," he said, tossing it up into the air. Watching it instantly fall back down into his hand, the blue ranger shook his head. "Nope, it's not..."

Moving his body slightly to the left, the stone suddenly began to glow. Moving away, the shine vanished again.

"Hmmm..."

* * *

"Well, we're alone," Luke said, trying the small talk. "All alone on a big old mountain, nobody for... a while around. Probably."

"Lucky us," Nahir replied, dryly. "So..."

"Be good if we could find it before everyone else," the purple ranger said. "Then..."

"HI HO! HI HO! IT'S UP THE MOUNTAIN WE'LL GO!"

"So much for being alone," Nahir muttered, the sarcasm in her voice easily detectable as Mal and Tim came wandering out onto the scene. Both of them singing as loud as they could go, a Machop and a Geodude dancing around at their feet.

"Err... Tim? I don't remember the rest of the words," Mal said, stopping his movement. "What were the rest of the..."

"Aww crap," the other Hiker replied, groaning. "Me too. This is... At least nobody is watching us and laughing."

"Well, they're half right," Luke muttered.

* * *

"There it is!" Xavier said, as he and Ryan made their final move up the trail, spotting a small cave at the end of the path. "I'm almost certain that's where we're being led to by the crystal."

"Is it a crystal?" Ryan wondered. "Or...?"

"Not important," the blue ranger replied, making his way into the darkened structure. With the green ranger following him, he quickly took in the surrounding area. "Well... This is interesting."

"Yeah, really interesting," Ryan repeated, slightly sarcastically as he glanced around the small cavern. It almost completely bare and grey, the only decoration being a font in the middle. A font, they quickly discovered on closer inspection, that was filled with a strange silver liquid.

"Well, this ought to be easy," Xavier said. "Just scoop all that up, into something else and then we go home, take it from there. See what Bill can make of it all."

"I'll see if I can scoop it up, I've got a flask in my pocket," the green ranger said. "You go let Bill and the others know where we are."

As Xavier began to move away and speak into his morpher, Ryan cupped his hands together and dunked them into the liquid. Before letting out a groan.

"It's just occurred to me that this might be acid," he said. "If I suffer bad burns..."

"It's not acid," Xavier remarked, rolling his eyes. "Why would someone leave a fontful of acid in a cave in the middle of the mountain?"

"Why would someone leave a fontful of anything in a cave in the middle of the mountain?" the green ranger shot back.

"True, fair enough," Xavier conceded. "I wouldn't recommend drinking it though. Just try and scoop it up."

"Oh damnit!" Ryan complained, the liquid slipping through his fingers. He quickly tried to do it again, only for the same result. Reaching into his pocket, he brought out a flask, tipping the contents out onto the ground. Without hesitating, he dunked it in the liquid to scoop out that way. The strange silver liquid not willing to go inside the neck of the flask, much to his anger.

"Having trouble?" Xavier asked.

"This is frustrating!" Ryan complained. "How are we supposed to get it?"

* * *

"Okay, you heard that," Katie said, looking around to her two friends with her. "Let's go and find that cave."

"Oh joy, we're looking for a cave," Duo commented. "Brilliant. How many caves can there be on this mountain? Ten? Twenty? Two?"

"And like most things, there's only one way to find out," Paige remarked. "Shut up moaning and let's go find it."

* * *

"Where are those guys?" Luke complained, glancing up and down for a sign of the cave entrance. "Because..."

The sound of shrill laughter ringing out above them, the two of them immediately leaped aside. A powerful Sludge Bomb screeched through the air, hitting the ground where the two of them had been stood moments early. The two rangers rolling over to look up at their attackers.

"Miss us?" Harley asked, he and Meredith sneering down at Nahir and Luke. "If you did, I can't say that I'd blame you. Being the fabulous pair that we are, right?"

"Oh great," Luke muttered. "This is everything that we needed. A vainglorious mutant and... a purple haired freak of nature."

"Hey!" Harley complained. "I resent that comment."

"We resent you existing, get used to it," Nahir shot back, the two rangers getting to their feet. "Now, are you going to back off, or does this have to turn nasty?"

"That depends," Meredith replied, she and Harley dropping to the ground in front of Luke and Nahir. "Maybe we're going to interfere with you, stopping you from doing what you need to do."

"Well, let's do this then," Luke said, as he and Nahir brought their morphers up.

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

"Okay, we're here!" Paige yelled, from outside the cave. "Are you guys in there? The Ursaring in the last four caves were very uncooperative. One of them almost mauled Duo."

"Is she being serious?" Ryan asked, before speaking up. "Yeah, we're in here!"

"There has to be some way of getting this," Xavier said, again trying to scoop up the liquid in the vessel. "There just has to be."

"Or not," Katie offered, walking into the cave. Followed closely by Duo and Paige. "Maybe it's irrelevant. Maybe it's just not meant to be scooped up."

"Are you serious?" Ryan asked. "If it's irrelevant, then why is it here?"

"Anyway, I'm going to do this," Xavier said. "Even if I have to spend all night here, I'm going to do it. It's all about persistence."

"Guys!"

Looking down to their morphers, the five of them heard Bill's voice through the devices.

"I've got the satellite over your area. Currently Luke and Nahir are fighting against two Coppingers, while another mutant is homing in on your position."

"We'll go help Luke and Nahir," Katie said, as she, Duo and Ryan got up. "Paige, can you handle the mutant?"

"Yeah, I think I can deal," the white ranger replied. "Okay, let's do it."  
"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

Flipping away from an attack from Meredith, Nahir retaliated with a kick to the mutant's face. As Meredith snarled at her in anger, she followed up with another set of blows. The Coppinger bringing her tail up to slam into the yellow ranger, the blow was enough to throw Nahir back to the ground. As Luke spun away from Harley, the purple ranger quickly brought his Genesis Blaster up and shot twice at Meredith. The veteran Coppinger quickly taking the moment to hit out with a Needle Arm, his attack was struck true, Luke hitting the ground in pain as a result.

"Never turn your back on me," he warned. "Because..."

"Fire!"

As Harley staggered back from the force of the blaster fire that had been directed towards him by the arriving Katie, Duo and Ryan, Luke rolled over onto his back, the wince in pain easily audible from him. Bringing his Psycho Spear up, he struck the Coppinger in the throat, Harley's scream only half heard as he staggered back.

"Never turn your front on me," he taunted. "Moron!"

* * *

Transforming out of her energy form, Paige saw Rosix moving towards the cave. The monster giggling slightly as she began to smell the air.

"Ah, that Genesis energy smells so good," she said. "Could just feast on it all night long. Isn't that right, white?"

Turning to face Paige, the monster smirked at her casually.

"Now, what do you want?"

"Many many things," the white ranger replied. "Preferably..."

"Too late, don't care!" Rosix yelled, raising her hands up to fire a barrage of purple rocks towards Paige. Completely unprepared for the surprise attack, she was quickly thrown back by the blast, unable to do much more than yell in pain. As she tried to get back up, Rosix threw out a Razor Leaf attack that sent her crashing back down again.

"Now, what do you want?"

* * *

"Ouch, crap damn it!" Harley shouted, clutching at his throat. "That really hurts, you psycho..."

"Spear?" Luke asked, smirking under his helmet. "I know, right?"

"This isn't over!" Meredith screeched. "We'll be back to get you again, really soon!"

"Bring it on!" Nahir shot back. "Any time, any place."

"You'll get yours, rangers!" Meredith yelled, as the two of them vanished away. No sooner had they left the battlefield when Paige came flying over the ridge, hitting the ground in front of them. Hard.

"Ouch," the white ranger groaned, sitting up. "That hurt."

"You okay?" Ryan asked. "What happened?"

"I'd wager it to be her," Katie said, looking up to the ridge where the monster in question had appeared.

"If that's the best you've got," Rosix remarked, looking at where Paige had landed, before returning her gaze to Katie. "Then I'm really really scared."

"Okay, you caught me by surprise," Paige said, getting up. "That's not going to happen again."

"I'm still not scared," Rosix replied.

"You should be," the red ranger replied, bringing her morpher up. "Because it's about to get tense here. Hunter Glider!"

As the vehicle in question came swooping down, Katie leaped up into the air to secure herself in. Her morpher glowing with a red light, light that transformed into energy that washed over and across her, soon metamorphising into flames. Flames that quickly faded away, as the transformation began. The red energy at her morpher spreading out across her body, she momentarily transformed into a living rendition of a Charizard. Similar to the way that she did when morphing into her Zord form, it only lasted for a second before she returned back to ranger form. Only with some new armour visible, the Charizard's head remaining, her helmet within its mouth with the rest of the face surrounding it. The wings of the Hunter Glider became part of her body, taking on the constitution of Charizard wings. Under her suit, her muscles grew larger, while a cream coloured oval formed on her stomach. Across her chest, a metallic silver band came across, while her gloves and boots hardened and grew claws at the end. The claws on her gloves extended out over her fingers as she landed and took a fighting stance.

"You don't scare me!" Rosix taunted, racing towards Katie. The red ranger catching a breeze and sailing up over her, the monster ineffectively blundered past, her attack hitting empty air.

"Likewise," Katie said, throwing herself backwards with the claws out. "Hunter Slash!"

Impaling the metallic weapons against the back of Rosix, the monster howled in pain, the pain compounded as Katie rolled forward and smashed her into the ground. Leaping back, Katie's visor began to glow as Rosix unsteadily got to her feet.

"Hunter Beam!"

At the command, the multicoloured beam of energy erupted out from the visor, stunning Rosix completely. The monster dropping to her knees in distress, as Katie began to glide forward again. Shooting through the air, she grabbed both arms around Rosix and started to take to the air. In barely seconds, they were at the required height, the red ranger starting to fly rapidly around in circles, before moving back towards the ground.

"Orbital Toss!"

Letting loose her grasp around the monster, Katie tossed the screaming monster down into the ground, Rosix quickly exploding on contact as she hit the ground like a meteorite.

"I love that attack," she said, gleefully.

* * *

"Sixty eight!" Xavier yelled, trying to scoop up another handful of silver liquid. Somehow, it seemed to be hardening slightly in his grip, but still too wet to contain. "Sixty nine!"

Another handful, another failure.

"Seventy!"

Still, it slipped through his fingers.

"Seventy one!"

Yet again, there still wasn't any luck for him. It still seemed to get harder though. Meaning that..."

"Persistence is key!" he yelled, frantically kneading the liquid. "Seventy one! Seventy two! Seventy three! Seventy four! Seventy fi..."

Before he could finish the seventy fifth handful, the pale blue stone in his pocket shot up out of his pocket, landing in the silvery liquid. Somehow rolling around on its own accord, it managed to absorb up the liquid. Sucking the entire stock of the stuff up, only the stone remained in the middle of the font. Now a silver colour again.

"The Liquid Platinum?" Xavier asked, the name popping up into his head from out of nowhere. "Wait, what...?"

* * *

"Alright, that's another one down," Duo said, looking at the remains of Rosix in front of them. "We're just waiting on..."

"Guys!" Xavier yelled, coming down the trail from the cave entrance. The stone held high above his head. "Look, I got it. Another artefact!"

"That's awesome," Nahir called, as the blue ranger moved over to join the rest of the group. "Well done."

"Yes, congratulations!"

Looking around, the seven of them saw Meredith appear out of nowhere, dropping a vial of orange liquid down onto the remains of Rosix.

"Too bad you're not getting to get it out of here without fighting her again," Meredith chuckled, vanishing away again. Rosix quickly getting up to her feet and growing to a giant size.

"Ready for round two, rangers?" she chuckled, staring down at them.

"Genesis Overload!" Xavier yelled, hitting the button on his morpher. Watching him instantly transform into his ranger suit, Rosix began to laugh again

"Oh, what difference is that going to make?" she asked. "You're all pathetic."

"Forget this!" Xavier yelled. "Time to transform!"

Giving the first command, he quickly uttered out another one as he and the other rangers morphed into their giant Eevee forms.

"Overload Zords! Megazord formation!"

Under the command, the six Zords turned into their robot forms and began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbs and tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. Standing up, it took up a fighting stance.

"Time to take this battle into the big leagues," Katie said, moving the Megazord towards Rosix.

"Let's take this thing down," Xavier called, as the Megazord struck out to hit Rosix several times with its metallic fists. The mutant groaning angrily, before unleashing a flurry of Razor Leaf attacks out in retaliation. The surprise attack knocking the Overload Megazord away, Rosix followed up with a blast of purple rocks. The blasts tearing dents out across the chest armour, the impact bringing yells out from the rangers inside the cockpit.

Watching Rosix's succesful attack, Paige quickly moved into action. Giving an order of her own to battle.

"Double Team!"

Instantly splitting herself into three seperate figures, the three white rangers looked up to Rosix, before speaking as one.

"North Wind Megazord!"

At the command, the three figures grew, before transforming, the replicants into a Froslass and a Dewgong, while the original white ranger transformed into a Glaceon. Next, the three giant Pokémon shifted into robot forms and began to move into formation. The Froslass rotating upside down, its head shifting up to form feet, before it split in half. The bottom part of the Zord rising up to connect to the bottom of the Glaceon whose front limbs rose out in front of it to form some chest armour. The rear legs joining with the tip of the split Froslass. The Glaceon's head rose up to form the head of the Megazord, while the Dewgong split in half down the middle. The upper body and head going to form the left arm, while the bottom half of the body and the tail moved to the right arm.

As Rosix turned to face her new opponent, the left arm of the North Wind Megazord came up to power through the air towards her.

"Ice Breaker!" Paige yelled, the blow hitting Rosix in the stomach and throwing her back. Her attack giving the Overload Megazord enough time to recover, the blue ranger inside quickly making to give a command.

"Genesis Blaster!" Xavier shouted, the Megazord quickly responding to his command by bringing the weapon out from the compartment in its Vaporeon leg. "Dark Pulse?"  
"Going with that for a change?" Duo asked, as the beam of black energy erupted out of the weapon, crashing against the body of Rosix. As burns appeared up across her body, Xavier quickly gave another order.

"Genesis Staff!" he yelled, the weapon appearing in the hands of the Megazord. "Now!"

"You're going to pay for this!" the monster howled, starting to run towards the Overload Megazord. "I'll destroy you both! Let me know how it feels to be destroyed!"

"We'll save you the trouble," Luke quipped. "We'll help you to experience it for yourself!"

"Element Overload!" Xavier shouted, the tip of the blade starting to glow with energy. Sweeping it out, it struck six times against the body of the monster. The slashes expanding out and causing huge damage to Rosix, yet not quite enough to finish her off.

"My defense is too much for you to overcome!" she taunted. "That's not going to work..."

"And, you forgot about me," Paige called. "Sheer Cold."

Responding to the white ranger's command, the mouth of the North Wind Megazord opened up, unleashing a blisteringly cold attack towards Rosix. The desperately cold wind racing across her, instantly freezing the monster solid. Within seconds, the ice shattered, taking Rosix with it. The frozen remains hitting the ground and shattering into even smaller pieces.

"Another one bites the dust," Ryan said. "Yippee."

"We beat her and got the artefact," Xavier remarked, leaning back in his seat. "I think this qualifies as a pretty good result."

"Yeah, let's get back to the Silver Gyarados and celebrate," Katie said. "This calls for one."

* * *

"Placing it with the others," Xavier remarked, placing the item within the safe on the bridge. "Safe and sound."

"Another one down," Lance commented, watching the blue ranger step back away from the safe. Revealing the contents within.

"Guess that's that then," Xavier said, glancing at the three and a half artefacts. "There's still more to find, but..."

"And we currently don't have a clue where to go next," Luke muttered. "Typical."

"Something'll come up," Paige said. "It usually does."

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**So... Another artefact. Yay.**

**Not a bad chapter in places, I suppose. Hope you enjoyed it.**

**There's a moral here somewhere, if you look hard enough. I think.**

**Anyway, thanks for the reviews. All appreciated.**

**Well, the next one is entitled Jirachi's Tricks. And it's the last one before the crossover... Preview below, up soon.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review... Xavier is replying to them for this chapter.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Twenty Eight, Jirachi's Tricks, preview.**

**?: Who am I?**

**?: You just showed up last night, no idea.**

**?: I need to know who I am!**

**?: Who you are is not important. What you are is.**

**?: Why are you tormenting me?**

**?: Because you asked for it.**

**Dorlinda: Do you know who I am?**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	28. Jirachi's Tricks

Chapter Twenty Eight. Jirachi's Tricks.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As Bill, Katie, Xavier and Duo set about trying to examine what the Gyardian had said, Xavier discovered that the stone he had given to Katie was covered in a slightly explosive material that had to be rubbed off by force. As he did so, Harley and Meredith worked out that the Cobra's interest in the Merlin Plateau meant that there had to be an artefact there, meaning that they deployed Rosix to go and look for whatever was there. With Xavier managing to complete his task in emphatic fashion, the seven rangers went to the Merlin Plateua, splitting up to try and find whatever it was they were looking for. Eventually, using the cleaned stone, Xavier and Ryan managed to find a font of silver liquid which proved almost impossible to remove. As Luke and Nahir were attacked by Harley and Meredith and Paige by Rosix, Xavier had to figure it out by himself that persistence was the key. He managed to create the Liquid Platinum, all by himself, just as Katie destroyed Rosix with her Battlizer. As the monster grew, she was again destroyed by the two Megazords, leaving the rangers to muse on the next part of their task..._

_

* * *

_

A cool breeze. Where is this coming from? And more to the point...

"Owww..." I groan, the pain racing through my head. "What the hell is that? My head!"

Rubbing away at the general soreness that is my head, I quickly start to take in my surroundings, my first thought being as to why I can't see quite so well out of my left eye. I rub away to try and clear my blurred vision, the pain quickly forcing me to turn my attention back to the place where I am. Where I have awoken. The cracked ceiling above me the first thing I see, followed by the walls in similar conditions. The wallpaper peeling away, the sensation sending a wave of revulsion through me.

"Why am I here?" I ask, sitting up on the crappy bed. Looking out around me, I see a dirty window, the sunlight creeping through the torn blinds to touch me. Illuminating the filthy carpet, the worn dresser and the dusty mirror. It is the mirror that I'm drawn to the most, the sight of my reflection enticing me over. Looking at it, I see that I am a mess. Either I was in a pretty bad fight, or I fell down some stairs. Big stairs. Dried blood stains the skin on my forehead and below my nose, my left eye is bruised and barely open. My blond hair is matted and stained, stained with black and red. Also, I feel pain in one of my legs, subconsciously I reach down to rub at the calf. Hoping to try and ease out the stabbing pain, my movement impeded slightly by the general injury.

"Is my scalp bleeding?" I ask to my reflection, not really getting an answer from the sorry version of me. I check my clothes, my dark blue and white striped shirt torn across the chest, several buttons missing from it. I am missing a sock, and my pants are torn down one leg, creating a split effect. A quick check of my pockets reveals no money and no identity, leaving me with several questions. Yet, one more important than any of the others.

"Who am I?"

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord and North Wind Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

Taking a step out onto the balcony, I see the sunlight again, the rays catch my eyes forcing me to bring an arm up to block them. Yet, I know notice how much warmer I am now I'm outside, I turn to look at the sign above me. The name of the motel held up in huge letters, I quickly move to read them.

"The Croagunk Motel?" I ask, subconsciously stroking my chin. Possibly a clue to my identity, yet somehow I doubt it. "Why would I come here? What... What drew me over here."

My focus on the sign fading, I shift my gaze to the car park below. Only a pair of automobiles left there, one green and one purple. Neither of which seems to take my fancy, neither of them screaming out that they belonged to me. Moving away from them, I see movement. A shadow cast off by the opening of the reception door across the street. A bleary eyed attendant looks out, groans at the sights of the sun, before heading back into the room.

"I had to sign in here somehow," I say to myself. "Maybe my name is on one of the forms down there. It's at least worth checking out. Has to be..."

Excited at the prospect, I start to move. The metal floor of the balcony clanging slightly under my footsteps, possibly more noise than I should have made. Yet, the pain in my right calf preventing any sort of silent movement.

Wait, I thought, standing stock still. Why would I need silent movement?

* * *

"You just showed up last night, no idea," the attendant said, not really paying me any attention. "On the form, I remember it because you didn't leave your name. The section was just left blank. Which, if I'd noticed sooner, would have resulted in you not been given a room."

"Look, I can't remember my name!" I yell, looking at her with what I hope is anger. I can't quite be sure any more. "I need to know who I am!"

"Please do not raise your voice to me, sir," she said. "That is not my concern."

"But, if I can't remember my name, how can I fill it in?"

"You think everyone who uses this place uses their real name? Should have made one up."

"I don't even remember signing in here," I protest. "Much less having the time to come up with a fake name."

"Then you should be somewhere secure," she said, the last word thinly veiled with contempt. Emphasis placed on it, leaving no doubt as to what she was implying. "Not here. Now, if you're going to pay up and..."  
"Yeah, I..." I started to say, before a light flashed on in my head. "I don't suppose that I left any personal belongings here?"  
"Nope."

"I get any packages delivered."

"Well," she said, reaching down below the counter. Bringing a grimy brown envelope up, the attendent dropped it on the counter. Raising an eyebrow at me as I looked down at it, she quickly spoke up.

"This was delivered for the occupant of room 221. Which as of last night was you. Now about your bill..."

Without paying her any attention, I reach down to pick the envelope up. Shaking it, I hear something inside, rattling as I move it vigorously. Possibly a key of some sort, or some loose change.

"That comes to twenty five dollars, plus a six dollar service charge."

Her words breaking through my intrigue, I hold up a hand to pause her before opening the package. I see the frustrated bemusement racing across her pale skin from the corner of my eye as I peer inside the envelope...

And to my relief, I pull out a handful of notes. Sweeping through them, I find there to be thirty one there, exactly.

"Here you go," I say to her, handing her the money. "That should cover it."

"You know," she replied. "For a moment, I thought that you were going to be a deadbeat who wasn't going to pay up. That it'd turn nasty, I'd break the baseball bat out and..."

"Nope, not me," I smile at her. Relieved at what I'd just avoided. "Just... Well..."

"There's no need for you to stick around," the attendant said. "I do have other customers to serve."

At her words, I look around to the empty office. Apart from a nearly dead plant, she and I are the only other signs of life.

"Really?"

* * *

Having moved out of the office, I look through the rest of the contents of the envelope. Hoping to find some sort of clue, both to the nature of the package and the identity of the two players inside this miniature drama. The benefactor who had delivered it, and me. Whoever I was.

"Don't suppose I'm going to get answers here," I mutter, shuffling through the rest of the stuff. My attention immediately drawn to the locker key, the small metal item and shiny blue tag being the most immediately interesting thing there. Along with that, I could count six pieces of gold, a photograph of a boat named The Lost Lapras as well as a hand written note.

"Are you ready for the challenge?" I read aloud from the note, immediately interested. "Challenge?"

Even after repeating the final word, my mind was in motion. What challenge was the note referring to? Had I made some sort of brash decision, and now living the consequences? And, if I had, then who was I dealing with.

Folding the note back up, I look at my wrist. Immediately finding myself wondering why I had, there not being a watch there for me to see. Yet, as I pull my sleeve up, I see the faintest trace of pale skin against the rest of the slight tan.

"Clue number one," I said. "I usually wear a watch."

Somehow, the small facet of knowledge made me feel better.

* * *

"So, you're saying that it's a key to a locker at the train station?"

"It would appear so, Sir," the locksmith replied. "Although, there are two in this city. You may need to visit both to find the exact one."

"What if I'm desperate?" I ask. "What if I don't have the time to visit both because I'm in a hurry? Could you give a recommendation on..."

"I'm just a locksmith. Not a fortune teller."

"Ah..."

* * *

Somehow, I can't explain it as I approach the unnamed train station. The roar of an engine in the distance a sign that I'm getting closer to it. Hurrying across the road, I see a Pidgey giving me a strange look before flying off. Almost as if it knows what sort of predicament I am in and wants no part of it. Shaking the image away from the forefront of my mind, I quicken my pace. Almost desperate to see if this is the place that I need to be, I push the door open in front of me. The harsh strike of the air conditioning hitting me like an icy wind as I step inside, the cool breeze welcome after the warming temperatures outside. Somehow, I find a moment to pause under the vent, letting it wash over me. Blasting away my worries for just that moment, they soon come back and I'm moving again. Following the signs on the ceiling that advertise the way to the lockers.

* * *

Lockers Lockers, everywhere. And only one to be opened. What a terrific choice, I think to myself, the paraphrasing of the quote not quite managing to trivialise the seriousness of the situation, but it came close.

"Come on," I mutter, looking back at the tag on the key. Hoping to find some sort of clue there, I'm sadly disappointed. The only thing I see being a eight small squares above a rectangle, that bit of information immediately not being any help for me. Dropping it back into my pocket, I glance at the labels on the locker, looking for numbers. Only to spot a strange symbol, two squares next to each other.

"Hmmm," I muse, looking back to the tag on my key. "Now, that is interesting."

Moving though into the maze of lockers, I find my mind wandering. What kind of screwed up train station has locker numbers in this fashion? Even though I couldn't remember who I was or what kind of person I am, part of me knew that that was strange.

Am I an accepting person of something like this? I ask myself silently. Or would the real me, the one who knows who I am be creeped out by it. Almost to expect some sort of attack in the dark, anything lurking in the lockers just waiting for me to move past...

"Stop it!" I say to myself. "Knock it off. There's nothing in here, there isn't any darkness. No psychopathic axe murderer... If there were, there'd surely be better places to do it. Alleys, parks, apartment buildings..."

That was when I saw it. The locker symbol I was looking for, the replica of the one on my key. Moving over to it eagerly, I bring the key out and move it into the lock. Twisting it around, I pull the locker open, not quite sure what I'm about to find...

Promptly discovering a small item in there. Something that I'm not sure as to the identity as. Pulling it out, I examine it, seeing that it's an electronic hangman set. Small and yellow with several buttons and a large screen, considering the size of them item.

"Interesting," I mutter, turning it over. A small sheet of paper taped to the back of it, I tear it away to read.

"The doors to this room are now locked," I read aloud. "Wait, what? Attempts to open them will set off the poison gas."

Poison gas? What the hell is going on?

"Find the word and you get to live. Work it out on the set provided. If you discover the correct answer, the doors will unlock. If you fail to do so, the poison gas will be released. If you do not come up with an answer in five minutes, the poison gas will be released. Your five minutes has already started."

Crap, I think, panicking as I look down to the hangman screen. Examining the now active device.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ is what I see. How best to approach this? Desperately, I move to type. Going the standard way, I use the five vowels first. An A, two I's and a U appear, while E and O do not. The core of the gallows appears, along with half a base.

_ I _ _ U_ A _ I _ _.

Not much help, I quickly realise, going for a B. Nothing happens, other than the other haf of the base.

D.

The base gets some support. I'm running out of time.

G?

_ I _ G U_ A _ I _ _.

F?

Part of the top part of the gallows appears. I'm slowly getting there, but can I...?

J?

The rest of the top part appears, the noose hanging down from it.

S?

S I _ G U_ A _ I _ _.

It's starting to dawn on me now. Ever so slightly.

M?

The head of the figure appears on the screen.

L?

S I _ G U L A _ I _ _.

R?

S I _ G U L A R I _ _.

N?

S I N G U L A R I _ _.

P?

The body of the figure fades into view, the slight panic starting to set in again. I'm so close but... Time to gamble.

T?

S I N G U L A R I T _.

Y.

As I hit the final button and the word singularity appears on the screen, a shrill beep rings out from the device before it switches off. And the doors swing open.

"Is that it?" I ask, looking around the area. "Come on!"

* * *

Having found nothing of immediate apparent value at the train station, I had decided to check out the docks of the city I was in, and look for the boat that had been in the picture that was in my envelope. The boat in question that I now stood in front of, the smell of salt air floating up off the water an assault on my sense of smell.

"The Lost Lapras," I say, looking down at the barge on the ocean. "Whatever it may be."

On the surface, it appears to be nothing more than a faded old boat. The blue, red, green, white and yellow paint across the surface peeling out into the ocean, the name in white letters barely visible against the partially rotten wood.

"If this is an indictment of a Lapras," I mutter. "I wouldn't want to meet one like this. Thing'd probably die on me."

Shaking my head, I move towards the rear of the barge. Seeing a door there upon arrival, I step out onto it and knock at the door. Wondering what sort of reply I'm likely to get, my eyes fall to a speaker and a keypad containing a multitude of numbers at the side of it. The keypad seeming to contain every letter of the alphabet, I quickly notice, wondering if it could be relevant. The modern technology somehow out of place in the comparison with the rest of the boat, I wonder what it is there for. My question quickly becoming answered, as a voice blurts out from it.

"Password," it said. "Please enter the password on the keypad below."

A phrase that on its own in an everyday situation wouldn't have terrified me. In this instance, it did. The Lost Lapras obviously has secrets, possibly answers that I need to find. And now I have to pull a password out of somewhere to continue. Panicking slightly, I try to recover from it with several deep breaths, hoping to regroup the scrambled thoughts of my mind. Managing to slowly regain some composure, I take another final deep breath and start to key a word into the keypad.

"L-A-P-R-A-S," I say, speaking the words aloud as I type. "Enter."

Taking a step back, a sense of frustration peels through me as nothing happens. Not even a verbal barrage telling me that I'm wrong, something that would at least give me some sort of solace. Because, as I try the door handle again, it's clear that it isn't going to open.

"L-O-S-T," I try, again punching the buttons in. This time, the frustration is less, I wasn't quite expecting it to be right. But, as I contemplate my third choice, the voice emerges from the speaker.

"Last chance remaining. If your next choice is wrong, the explosives will become active."

Explosives! Holy crap!

The two thoughts rushing through my head, I almost immediately stagger back in worry. Am I in danger here? Even if I turn and walk away, would the explosives still activate? Am I stood on a pressure plate? As the thoughts screech through my head, I desperately again try to regain some composure. Calm myself down, panic probably not going to help me out at all. And to my dismay, I had no concrete idea as to the password.

No concrete answer, but there was one thing. Just something random enough to be hopefully right, I have nothing else to go on. If I'm going to fail, I might as well get it over and done with. And, it had to be used for something. Steadying myself, I bring my hand over to the keypad again.

"S-I-N-G-U-L-A-R-I-T-Y."

The lock clicks open, and a small musical tone is something that I hear. Much to my delight, although the sensation only lasts for a moment as I contemplate the complexities of why a single unrelated word in a locker at the train station would open a door on a boat.

Only one way to find out, I think, pulling the door open and start to walk into the darkness.

* * *

Moving into the small room, I immediately see a sign across from me. Stepping closer to it, my eyes focus on the words.

"All campaign contributions are welcome."

Pondering the meaning of the phrase in front of me, it hits me. Something from the shadows tackling me to the ground. Recovering, I bring my knee up into its stomach, hoping to stagger it. In the process, I barely have the time to wonder where I picked the skill up, but the attacker quickly recovers. Throwing a fist at my head, I jerk it to the side. Literally feeling it shatter into the wooden floor, I manage to roll away out of the grasp of the attacker. Snapping my foot up, I kick my attacker in the side of the head, the figure lets out a growl of pain. His discomfort allowing me to jump up and prepare to defend myself further. Keeping my attention on the attacker, he comes back at me, the fists wildly swinging. Having seen what they had done to the floor of the cabin, I had no particular desire to be hit with them as I step back to evade them. As he loses his focus, I jump up and hit him with an aerial roundhouse, the powerful blow managing to stagger him. Because now I see that it is a he, a big figure wearing a black and white pinstripe suit, complete with black hair and a pair of reading glasses. The fact that my attacker is human...

Wait, why wouldn't my attacker be human?

... Fails to put me off, I go in for another attack. Crashing a fist against his face, I see him recover from the strike faster than I had from throwing it. Taking the opportunity, he grabs me by the arm and tosses me at the wall. The Lost Lapras shaking as I hit it, I slowly slump to the floor. My attacker grins at me, moving towards my prone form.

"Singularity!" I yell at him, wondering if it would do any good. My question immediately answered as he ignores the word and hits me. Even as I spit the blood out, the claret spraying the air, he attacks again. My hand inadvertently falls to my side, touching the envelope there. And its final contents, the six golden...

Campaign contributions?

... Coins.

"Here!" I yell, bringing the package up and showing him the coins. "A campaign contribution. For keeping up the fine work."

"Thank you kindly, fine citizen," the figure replies, offering a hand to help me up. Something that I take quite reluctantly, almost expecting another attack. "Now, be resting well in the knowledge that I'll be using this fund to get re-elected and do a fine job for the people of this city. Your money is welcome."

Taking a step back, he gestures to the side of him where a portal appears. Much to my surprise. Come to think of it, I can't decide whether I'm more surprised at the portal appearing, or the fact that I recognise it as a portal.

"And, if you'd just like to step through the door," he said. "Your answers are beyond the veil."

"The veil?" I ask. "Wait, what?"

"Please, step on through," the figure repeats. "At once."

Shrugging slightly, I move towards it. Moving inside it, I quickly wonder where it is going to take me.

* * *

A question that is soon answered as I step out of the portal and look around. No pieces of the complex puzzle left, I search around the alley. Hoping to see some sort of answer, maybe a fallen ID card to ascertain who I am. No such luck, the lack of that certain thing enough to let a snarl of frustration loose from my lips

"Why are you tormenting me?" I ask angrily, looking up at the sky "What's going on here?"

Almost somehow, almost inexplicably, I hear a soft voice in the wind. Surely I'm hearing things, the comment probably a figment of my imagination.

"Because you asked for it," the voice whispered. "Now, hurry up. Time is ticking away."

"Time is ticking away?" I ask. "Where do I go? Why do I...?"

Behind me, the area has fallen silent. Ahead of me, there is noise. Turning, I see it. A huge wall of darkness, as far as the eye can see racing across the horizon towards me.

"Oh crap!"

Only allowing myself the time for the brief curse, I turn to run. Pumping my legs up and down as fast as they will go, part of my realises that it might not be enough. Beyond the darkness, I don't know what awaits me, but something tells me it's more likely to be bad than the reverse. Still I run, part of me knowing that I can't escape the inevitable. The wall of darkness behind me seems to flow effortlessly across the ground, almost like water. I can only keep on running, more acceptance of what is sure to be my fate coming by the second. I hear the roar of the darkness behind me, take a deep breath. Will my death hurt, I wonder.

That is when I am sucked into the void, the sound finally coming. The death knell, drawing me up and through the black, I am completely blinded. Gasping stale empty space, not even any air passed into my burning lungs. I could feel my head getting lighter by the second, almost on the verge of passing out. I would have blacked out, but in the darkness, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

Just as I was trying to realise what my final thoughts would be, I feel myself being dragged out into the light.

* * *

The paleness of the light in question instantly assaulting my senses, I glance around, blinking repeatedly to try and get my vision back. A pale white shape looks at me in the distance, some gold joining it in view as my vision returns. My thoughts instantly run to how amazing it is that I cannot remember my own name or who I am, but I recognise the being in front of me as a Jirachi.

"Hi there," the Jirachi replied. "My name's Bill."

"Really?" I asked. "Are you sure?"

"What's wrong with Bill?" the Pokémon asked, narrowing its eyes in sadness at me. "I like the name Bill."

"Your choice," I say. "Pardon me, Bill. But, can you help me? I'm lost and alone, meaning that..."

"Yes, I know," Bill replied. "I put you here. All is going to be revealed soon, but in the mean time, I've got something for you. Your prize, if you will."

"My prize?" I ask. "What do you mean?"

"You completed the challenge," Bill said, clapping his tiny Jirachi paws together. A large rose white chest appears in front of me, complete with red and gold trim. "Congrats."

"Wait, what?"

"Time for you to go," Bill remarked, his head jerking from side to side. "Au revoir, sir. Well played, you're the first person ever to have managed it. You truly have managed to master all parts of your personality."

"Doesn't help when I don't know who I am or what to do with it," I reply, my voice starting to echo towards the end. Much to my surprise. "Wait, what's going...?"

* * *

Jerking up into a sitting position, this time finding himself in a bed on the Silver Gyarados, Luke looked down to his stomach to see the chest balanced there in front of him. The one that he'd had in the...

"Holy mother of everything, was that a dream?" he yelled, sitting up. "Or..."

"Well, Luke," Bill said, all his friends around him. "It's a long story. I'm surprised you don't remember it actually."

"I don't remember anything," the purple ranger replied. "Just... Man, that was a strange dream."

"It wasn't a dream," Nahir said. "More a state of relaxed comatose. Combined with astral projection, mixed with some sort of trance."

"You're throwing a lot of complex terms at me," he muttered. "Just... Give me the general gist of the tale."

"Okay," Katie said. "It started off something like this..."

* * *

_Twelve hours earlier..._

_

* * *

_

_"Are you sure that this is going to work?" Duo asked, looking over to Dorlinda. "Last time I checked, summoning legendary Pokémon to do your bidding is a stupid idea."_

_"We're not talking about summoning a Giratina to destroy the world and rebuild it in our own image," Paige pointed out. "That's more the work for evil teams of super villains."_

_"Besides, it's just a Jirachi," Ryan offered. "What harm can it do?"_

_"Have you ever seen the Wishmaster movies?" Xavier asked. "The one about the evil Jirachi? The one where the thing gives out three wishes and instead of granting the third wish, it just sucks out the soul of the wisher."_

_"Well, don't make three wishes then," Luke commented, sardonically. "Just the one."_

_"All this because we found a scroll," Nahir muttered, rolling her eyes. "One telling us to summon up a Jirachi, giving us very specific details in the process."_

_"We've almost got it complete," Dorlinda said, stepping back from the symbol in the middle of the floor. A silver eye painted there, he reached into his pocket and brought out a box of matches._

_"You're not going to burn down my boat, are you?" Bill asked, slightly worried at the sight. Only for the Lord of Time to let out a small cryptic laugh as he struck one of the wooden sticks up and dropped them onto the symbol._

_"The fire within them is not fire in the sense that you would use to destroy incriminating evidence," he said. "But rather, it's mystical fire. Used to burn a hole in reality, it's a quick and easy way to summon something into this world. The advantage being that the symbol is the anchor for control over the thing. You destroy the symbol and the summoned being is instantly cast back to where it came."_

_"You're a contradiction, aren't you," Lance commented. "You paint yourself as a scientific being, a knowledge of facts... That seems kinda old world doesn't it?"  
"Now, that is where you mistake me," Dorlinda replied. "Technology can only get you so far. I have been checking out some apparently long dead arts for an extra string to my bow if you wish. It's handy to variate. Anyway, you're making an assumption there. Who's to say that this isn't used at some point in the future?"_

_"Well, you would be the expert on that," Xavier said, as the Lord of Time brought up the scroll and started to speak aloud from it._

_"Ee ne quan iioo hoona sectu roga gia kai Jirachi," he read, his accent pitch perfect. His voice causing the flames to glow black and violently flicker in the room. "Ari toi pery afho beng cheikh Jirachi."_

_"All rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?" Duo said, sarcastically. "This is really going to end well."_

_"Just because this is all going to go horribly wrong, there's no need to be negative," Paige said, dryly. "Right?"_

_"Only one way to find out," Bill remarked, as the flickering black flames in front of them died. The slightest outline of a Jirachi forming out of shadow, a slow voice started to speak out._

_"Why am I not whole?" it asked, sadly. "Where is the rest of me?"_

_"Are you the Jirachi entrusted with guarding the Natural Gift?" Dorlinda asked. "We need to know before letting you in completely?"_

_"If you were the guardian of the Natural Gift, would you tell anyone?" the spectre asked, irritably. "Now let me in and I'll help you."_

_"Very well," Dorlinda said. "But, if you double cross us, it won't end well for you"_

_"I have no malice or ill will towards you," the spectral Jirachi replied. "Now, hurry up."_

_"Bon corpa salcido rika blight mono zen corie Jirachi," Dorlinda finished, rolling the scroll up. The outlines of the wish casting Pokémon instantly filling in, revealing its full form._

_"That's better," the Jirachi groaned. "Now, what can I do for you? You want to know about the Natural Gift?"_

_"Preferably," Bill said. "That's what..."_

_"Where is the Natural Gift?" Katie asked, stepping forward to get a better view of the Jirachi. "We need to find it before a bunch of evil villains do and use it to re-write the entire world to the way that they want it to be."_

_"I care not who uses it," the Jirachi said. "I protect it. However, if my test is passed, a series of tricky challenges requiring the contestant to be completely at one with themselves and their abilities, then I shall give it to you. Until then, only I have access to it."_

_"What sort of test?" Nahir asked. "What sort of challenges?"_

_"You will be deposited into an entirely created world, with no idea of who you are. Your powers will be removed. Using only your cunning, only your natural skill and your courage, you will face dangerous trials. However, only one of you can go."_

_"Can we have a minute to decide this?" Ryan asked. "If only one of us can go, I think we need to try and work out who best to go out and do this thing."_

_"But, of course," the Jirachi said, before looking over to Dorlinda. "Before you try it, the Lord of Time isn't allowed to do it. I refuse to..."_

_"Yeah, I wasn't going to do it anyway," Dorlinda replied. "My memories are too important to me."_

_"Nice to know none of us mere mortals have that worry," Luke commented, sarcastically. Something that Dorlinda didn't fail to notice._

_"The difference being that I've been alive longer than you can imagine," he said. "So, I naturally have more memories."_

_"Naturally," Duo commented, only a touch of bite in his words._

_

* * *

_

_"So, are we all agreed that I'm the logical choice?" Nahir asked. "I'm probably the most intelligent here, apart from Bill..."_

_"Modest about it too," Ryan said, dryly. "We don't know what's going to be in there. It could be anything."_

_"Are you doubting my capability as a ranger?" Nahir wondered. "Because I've been one longer than you."_

_"True, but that's..." Ryan began to argue, before thinking better of it. "I don't have a way of arguing against that."_

_"Anyone else want to do it?" Katie asked. "I am willing to do it, but..."_

_"Ditto that," Xavier said. "If I have to, then..."_

_"Screw you all!" Luke exclaimed, stepping forward. "No way in hell I'm letting any of you guys do this. If it's dangerous, I'm feeling reckless. Very reckless."_

_"Luke, I'll do it," Nahir replied. "Don't..."_

_"What part of I'm feeling reckless don't you get?" he asked. "Because I'll do it? I've never shirked a challenge, and I'm not throwing this one out of my grasp."_

_"What's the real reason?" Duo wondered. "Because..."_

_"Believe it or not, I have no ulterior motive," Luke said, turning to head over to the Jirachi. "Wish me up into that area. I'll kick your challenge into touch. I'm not scared of anything that you can throw at me."_

_"That's what they always say," Jirachi remarked. "Well, if there's no further ado, the rest of you might want to stay back."_

_"Are you sure that you want to do this?" Nahir asked, almost making to move towards him. "Because... I'm willing to do this."_

_"Yeah, I'd rather that I did it ahead of you," he said, slowly. "Because... Y'know."_

_"Ah, that's the real reason," Paige commented. "It all becomes clear suddenly."_

_"Seriously..." Nahir replied. "What is wrong with you? Are you that desperate to prove something?"_

_"Maybe... I don't need to prove anything though."_

_"Denial," Paige muttered._

_Turning back to the Jirachi, Luke held out both arms. Almost as a challenge to the legendary Pokémon._

_"Give it to me!"_

_

* * *

_

"Okay, wow," Luke said, getting up out of the bed. "I honestly don't remember that. Just what happened in that mystical state..."

"What was that mystical state like?" Nahir wondered. "Anything interesting?"

"Just a standard running the gauntlet of crazy challenges," the purple ranger said, turning his attention back to the chest. Bringing his hand down to the catch, a smile flashed across his face. "But, within this chest, there's going to be an artefact and..."

"Before you do," Nahir commented. "I think we all appreciate the sheer bravado you showed in getting this."  
"You're going to make me blush," Luke quipped, pulling the lid of the chest open. "And here we have..."

Cut off in mid sentence, he took a step back in shock.

"What's the crack here?" he demanded, picking the chest up and tipping it upside down. The rest of the rangers seeing it to be mostly empty, only a small sheet of paper falling out. Hurling it aside in anger, the purple ranger snatched the paper up off the bed and started to read it aloud.

"Ever so sorry," he said. "But, I found it first. And I intend to hide it again as soon as possible. Where nobody will ever get it."

"Man, that's harsh," Xavier commented, as the furious Luke tore the paper into pieces and hurled them to the ground.

"If I ever see that Jirachi again," he seethed. "I am going to tear that thing a new one. Putting me through all that for nothing. I'll murder the bastard."

"Okay, calm down," Lance said. "It's annoying, but it's not the end of the world. We'll regroup again and find what took this artefact. We have to. No matter where it is..."

* * *

Moving across the ground, the Celebi began to sniff the air. His small wings rising up instantly, the antenna on his head stiffened. The small grass type Pokémon sensing danger in the air, ready to flee.

One... Two...

Before he could vanish away from the scene through time, the watching figure pounced upon him. Closing his hands around the time travelling Pokémon's shoulders, the grip wasn't enough to hurt him. Moving his head around, he looked over to his captor, all his fears slowly vanishing away as he looked into the violet eyes. At the silver blue hair and the pale skin.

"Do you know who I am?" Dorlinda asked, narrowing the eyes at the Pokémon. "Because..."

"Who you are is not important," the Celebi replied, Dorlinda not fazed by the fact that he could speak. "What you are is."

"Not really surprised that you can guess at that," Dorlinda answered. "Time traveller's code of honour and all that."

"If that's what you want to call it," the Celebi replied. "Are you going to let me go, or do I have to vanish out of your hands?"

"Yeah, that's not going to happen," the Lord of Time said, glancing down to a metal badge on his trenchcoat. "Unknown to you, that metal disc is a temporal dampener. No teleporting as long as it's active. So, good luck with that."

"Okay," the Celebi said, resigning himself to being trapped for the moment. "What's your problem? What do you want from me?"

"You took something that didn't belong to you," Dorlinda replied, narrowing his eyes ever further at the psychic type Pokémon. "And now, I need to know what you did with it..."

* * *

To Be Continued...

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**So, that sets up the crossover next chapter. We're going to Johto people, the Dino Force crossover.**

**Two talking legendary psychic type Pokémon in one chapter. What are the odds? Completely by accident, I only noticed while writing.**

**Not really the typical Poké Rangers chapter, but it's something different.**

**Just out of interest, anyone guess that it was Luke? Or even what was going on in the chapter.**

**Thanks for the reviews, they are all appreciated.**

**Anyone have a random guess at who the Celebi is? AKA, not just a random one.**

**There may be a delay in the two parter, because of something completely unrelated. It may become an issue, it may not.**

**Anyway, whenever it's up, Gifts Of The Future, Part One is the next one.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Please! Luke is going to be replying to them for this chapter.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Twenty Nine, Gifts Of The Future, Part One, preview.**

**Dorlinda: Look at what I've found.**

**Paige: A Celebi?**

**?: I am sorry for the distress that I have caused you. I happened across the artefact and...**

**Katie: Take us to it.**

**Duo: Goldenrod City. Looks exactly the same a hundred years on.**

**Xavier: Hey, let's check this place out. Golden Youths**

**Dennis: They left this timeline? We need to follow them.**

**?: Zaroids, attack.**

**?: Not on our watch!**

**?: I knew this would happen...**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	29. Gifts Of The Future: Part One

Chapter Twenty Nine. Gifts Of The Future: Part One.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As a new day dawned, a figure woke up in a motel, not knowing who he was or why he was there. Working his way through an envelope of clues, he made his way through a series of tests and trials to ultimately find a Jirachi that gave him a chest. Upon getting the item, Luke woke up with the chest. Realising that Dorlinda had summoned a Jirachi to the Silver Gyarados, the legendary Pokémon being the protector of the Natural Gift. Remembering that he had accepted the challenge of finding it, Luke found the chest empty. Meanwhile, Dorlinda took up the challenge of stalking a Celebi..._

_

* * *

_

"One of those days, huh?" Nahir asked, glancing into the gym. Seeing Luke in the process of taking his frustration out against one of the heavy leather bags. "Can see that."

"Not really," Luke said, taking a final swipe at the punching bag. "That damn Jirachi..."

"Can you really blame the Jirachi? When we summoned him back up, he seemed as surprised as anyone."

"Or, he deliberately lied to us."

"Why would he lie about it?" she wondered. "Because... There's just nothing in it for him. Why are you really mad? Because, it's not with Jirachi?"

"I just feel like I wasted my time with that trial," he muttered, quietly. "I nearly died. It's only because of my quick wits and ability to adapt that I didn't."

"Not to mention your modesty. I imagine that saved you at some point."

"Ha."

* * *

"We got anything?" Katie asked, looking around the room. "Any thoughts on this?"

"Something had to have taken the Natural Gift," Bill pointed out, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "That's the only thing that makes logical sense."

"But, it was protected by Jirachi," Ryan offered. "If you think about it, it'd have to have been something that could have got by him. Slash her. Slash it. Which would tend to rule out at least 95% of things."

"That's still five percent unaccounted for," Lance said. "And, in the context of things... That's quite a lot."

"To be fair, I think that most of them can be ruled out," Xavier remarked. "I mean, if you look at the players in the game..."

"In the game?" Paige asked. "Come on, is that the best comparison you can make? I consider it more like a really deranged reality TV show."

"That's not important," Duo commented. "There's the Coppingers. Is it really likely that they got it?"

"Considering the luck they've had up to this point?" Ryan asked. "I don't think they have access to that amount of subtlety."

"We didn't get it, I don't think the Cobra's would have been able to reach it," Bill remarked. "Amazing how it keeps coming back to Jirachi."

"You think we're worrying about it too much?" Duo asked. "Maybe we should forget about it for the moment. It's not like the answer's going to drop out of thin air and land directly in our laps."

Even as the black ranger finished speaking, a light popping sound rang out through the confined space of the room. The familiar shape of Dorlinda materialising into view, the Lord of Time instantly dusting his overcoat off.

"That said..." Katie remarked, looking over to him. "What's going on?"

"Not even a hello?" he asked, sarcastically. "You hurt my feelings. Where's the Hi, how are you Dorlinda? Where have you been Dorlinda?"

"Normally, you're not so much of a drama queen," Paige said. "So, what's wrong?"

"I heard about your problem with Jirachi and the Natural Gift," Dorlinda replied, folding his arms loftily. "The way Luke was complaining about it, I think half of Verger heard about it."

"Can you help us out with it?" Xavier asked. "Y'know, zap us over to where you think it is and..."

"That's not possible," the Lord of Time replied. "However, I have found a being with an interesting story. Something that you should all hear."

"This ought to be good," Duo muttered, as their guest clapped his hands together. A flash of green and white energy instantly ripping out through the room, seconds before a new arrival appeared in front of Dorlinda. His colouring the same as the energy that had brought him here, the Celebi looked across at them all with interest. Before bringing one hand up and waving at them, the simple action causing them even more surprise than was already there.

"Look at what I've found," the Lord of Time said, his words breaking the stunned silence.

* * *

**Poké Rangers...**

_Poké Rangers logo appears. Johto and Verger appear, lightning flashes illuminating the regions._

**Poké Rangers...**

_Outline of fourteen rangers appear in the background._

**Go...**

_Kyle appears, leaning against the Goldenrod Gym. Kyle Weaver. Red Dino Force Ranger. Created by Phoenix Espeon._

**It's time to meet...**

_Rei comes out of the Goldenrod Radio Tower. Rei Danime. Yellow Dino Force Ranger. Created by Mimi Tachikawa-Sincerity._

**Some friends...**

_Ritchie stands at the top of the Silph building. Ritchie Smith. Green Dino Force Ranger. Created by Psyduck Ranger._

**From a different place...**

_Nanene walks out of the pool in Goldenrod. Nanene Valentine. Blue Dino Force Ranger. Created by Mimi Tachikawa-Sincerity._

**Hook up against all odds...**

_James comes out of a studio in the Radio Tower. James Masterson. Black Dino Force Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**And save this world...**

_Miborg works away in BoO, eating a banana. Miborg. Pink Mime Ranger. Created by Psyduck Ranger._

**That's what we do...**

_Alex walks out of Golden Youths. Alex Wright. White Alpha Ranger. Created by Starfighter364._

**Because...**

_Anna appears. Donny, Carl and Trex try to squeeze into the picture behind her._

**We are Poké Rangers...**

_The Dinosians and the Coppingers appear, glaring at each other._

**We train to be the best...**

_Katie takes a step into Goldenrod City. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo._

**We are Poké Rangers...**

_Duo comes out of an alley. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by Jmb2nami._

**We fight and we will be...**

_Xavier walks into Golden Youths. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Victorious...**

_Ryan heads into the Goldenrod Gym. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Because...**

_Nahir looks up at the Radio Tower. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by FamousGirl01._

**We are the Poké Rangers...**

_Luke glances at a newspaper. Luke Sunderland. Purple Genesis Ranger. Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**And we will win...**

_Paige spots the breeding centre in the distance. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by FamousGirl01._

**Poké Rangers...**

_Bill, Lance and Dorlinda all appear._

**Oh yeah, Poké Rangers...**

_All Megazords appear. Katie and Kyle transform into their Battlizers._

**Come on, Poké Rangers...**

_All fourteen rangers shake hands with their counterparts. Explosions ring out._

**It's time for the Poké Rangers...**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Poké Rangers Dino Force created by Psyduck Ranger. Special Creative Consultant, Psyduck Ranger.

**Go...**

**

* * *

**

"A Celebi?" Paige asked, shocked by the sight in front of her. "That's..."

"Okay, wow," Xavier said, as the green and white fairy-like Pokémon shook himself off, before floating up to land on Dorlinda's shoulder. "That's awesome. How did you manage to convince a Celebi to come with you?"

"What can I say?" the time travelling Pokémon asked. "He made a great argument for it."

"Holy crap!" Duo yelled, almost spitting up the water he was drinking. "The Celebi speaks!"

"What, you never seen a talking Celebi before?" the Pokémon asked. "What a sheltered existence you must have lived."

"I've never seen a regular Celebi before," Duo argued. "Never mind one that could speak."

"Have you ever listened out for one that could?" the Celebi replied, his bad mood immediately apparent. A situation that wasn't helped as Luke and Nahir walked in, both immediately gawping at the sight of the legendary Pokémon. "Any more questions, or..."

"Is there any particular reason that you've brought a Celebi out here?" Katie asked. "Other than the shock value?"  
"First of all," the Celebi said, still sounding annoyed. "Since I'm here, are you going to address your question to me or not?"

"He's got you there," Ryan muttered.

"So..." Nahir offered. "Nice to meet you, Celebi."

"It's a bit..." Luke started to say, before thinking better of what he would have been about to say. "Never mind. So, why are you here? What's the reason?"

"Think I can help you," he replied. "So... You're Poké Rangers?"

"We are," Katie confirmed. "You know anything about Poké Rangers?"

"Quite a bit," Celebi said, sagely. "But, that's a story for another day. I also happen to know that you're searching for the Genesis artefacts."

"Well, who the heck told you that?" Xavier asked. Dorlinda instantly pulling at his collar and coughing nervously at the comment. "Never mind."

"Natural Gift, huh?" the Celebi continued. "This is quite a funny story, actually..."

"Oh, I doubt that," Luke said, a psychopathic look crossing his face as he glared at the grass type Pokémon. "I can probably match it with a funnier one. One where I do an insanely stupid trial in the hopes of getting an artefact out of it, and it turns out that someone walked off with it."

"Okay, first of all, I am sorry for the distress that I have caused you," Celebi said. "I happened across the artefact and..."

"You happened across the artefact?" Ryan asked. "How? It was..."

"Back door," Celebi admitted, sheepishly. "I kinda walked in on it by accident. Felt so bad about it that I felt duty bound to go and hide it in a better place. A place where nobody would be able to find it."

"Where did you hide it?" Nahir asked, suspiciously.

"I don't remember," the Celebi said, blinking slightly. "This is the funny part."

"You don't remember where you hid it?" Paige asked. "How can you not remember where you hid it?"

"Let me guess..." Lance remarked. "Mind wiped."

"I really hate Clarence right about now," Duo said. "Typical. We finally get a lead and he screws that up. Sometimes, I think that he doesn't want us to find them."

"Let me finish," Celebi replied, quickly. "I don't remember the exact place where I hid it, but I know the general area and the year? Strange how he left that behind. I even remember him explaining why he had to do it."

"The year?" Katie asked. "What do you mean?"

"Those Genesis artefacts are one of a kind. And it's currently in twenty second century Johto."

"Ah..." Luke said. "Crap."

"Pity that there's no way that we can get there," Ryan said, stroking his chin. "If only there was some sort of time machine or something."

Even as he finished speaking, Celebi opened his own mouth. Dorlinda bringing a hand up to shush him quickly.

"Let him work it out," he muttered. "Either he hasn't caught on yet, or he's being ironically stupid."

No sooner had the mild insult come out, the green ranger let out a sigh of realisation.

"Oh."

"Take us to it," Katie said, looking to the two time travelling beings. "We need to find it. Please. I presume you can drag us all out there."

"Not from here," Celebi replied. "If I teleport you all to the future now, you'll probably drown on arrival. Because there's no guarantee that this... Ahem, boat will be still be there in ninety eight years time."

"This thing is made to last," Bill insisted. "It was made that way."

"He's not disputing the quality," Dorlinda said. "More the fact that it's unlikely to be in exactly the same place after all that time."

"Can't you take it with you?" Xavier asked. "Drag the boat through with us? Then...?"

"It seems like a lot of effort," Paige said. "Surely it's just as easy to head over to Johto. That way, we won't have to do it in the future."

"So, we head over there then," Duo offered, rubbing his hands together. "No harm, no foul."

"Suppose we'll stay here," Lance said. "Even though we're Johto natives. No point us going, it'll just get depressing seeing the future. Plus, we can carry on here and research in peace. See if we can get some leads on other artefacts."

"The future's not that bad," Celebi insisted. "There are some good parts to it."

"Okay then, that's settled," Katie spoke up. "We'll meet you two in Johto as soon as possible. Take the Hover Chasers and..."

"When you're done with them," Dorlinda said. "I'll move your equipment to the Time Hole so you'll be able to access them in the future."

"That's helpful," Xavier replied. "Okay, let's get going on over there."

* * *

"Here we are," Duo said, proudly. "The Illex Forest. Biggest collection of trees in Johto."  
"Really?" Nahir asked. "Really, is there any need for us to know that? We probably could have guessed at it."

"Just making conversation."

"It's like a riddle," Luke said, rolling his eyes. "If Duo makes an irrelevant comment alone in the woods, does anyone hear him?"

"Interesting philosophical take on it," Celebi remarked, as he and Dorlinda appeared out of the trees. "But, I guess you'll never ever know."

"So, are we going to do this then?" Katie asked. "If we're going to, we might as well get it over and done with."

Smiling at her, Celebi's eyes began to glow with a bright blue aura. Seconds before the eight of them vanished from view. Shrugging his shoulders, Dorlinda quickly followed suit, vanishing through to the future of his own accord.

* * *

"Ah... Dennis?"

Bringing his eyes up from the document he was reading, the Coppinger leader glanced coldly across to Arbok.

"What?" he demanded, dropping the papers to the table. "What is it?"

"We just got a call over from Noland," Arbok replied. "Apparently, those two managed to place a bug at the rangers head quarters at some previous point. They managed to sneak some Dogbots on board, their intention being sabotage. However, just in case it failed, these are Noland's exact words, they placed a bug as close to the bridge as they could manage. He was letting us know that it had suddenly and unexpectedly activated."

"So, they're in possesion of listening devices that turn on whenever they damn well feel like it?" he asked, dryly. "Well, I can see how those would be useful."

"Sarcasm," Arbok replied, giving him the thumbs up. "Excellent. Noland couldn't explain it either. He thought that the bug had been damaged somehow and it wasn't going to work. The way he described it was almost like a surge of power temporarily repaired and reactivated it. But, it's gone again now."

"Anything useful get picked up?" Dennis asked, gruffly. "Or is this just Noland trying to justify a spectacular catalogue of screwups?"

"No, I think that comes later," Arbok answered. "Anyway, what he said was that before the bug died again, he caught the snippets of an interesting conversation. Apparently, our arch-nemeses are heading for the future. There's an artefact there."

"They left this time line?" Dennis asked, jumping up out of his seat. "We need to follow them. Can't let them get another step ahead of us."

"Technically, they haven't left the time line," Arbok pointed out. "They've just moved further down it."

"Whatever, I'm not interested in semantics. I'm more interested in getting there."

"So, how do you propose to do that?" his scientist asked. "It's not like you can buy time machines on the Internet."

"How do we always do things?" Dennis demanded, bringing out the Genesis Book. "We get a monster out here."

"I don't know if I want to go time travelling to the future," Arbok said, softly. "I mean, I'm happy in the present."

"The future will become the new present," Dennis insisted, taking a Poké Ball out of the stock at the cabinet away towards the back of the room. "And, once we're there, we'll find that artefact and head back. Never know, we might have better luck at beating the rangers in the future."

"Where's your logic for that?" Arbok wondered, as his leader opened up the capsule to let a Baltoy out in front of them. "Seriously, I want to know."

Still not really listening, the Coppinger leader picked up the Genesis Book, quickly opening it up. Letting the smoke within wash out over the spinning Baltoy, the two of them heard the crunching sounds of the Pokémon mutating within.

"Always sounds so pleasant," Arbok cringed. "Jeez!"

It didn't take long for the smoke to clear, the Baltoy now a huge hovering mutant with white fur across his chest, Zangoose arms instead of the normal arms and a large furry tail. Parts of his head also had traces of Zangoose in it, while he had also sprouted a pair of fur covered legs.

"Think we'll call him Balzan," Dennis commented, stroking his chin. "Seems to have a nice ring to it."

"Put a lot of thought into that name, sir," Arbok said, quietly.

"Excuse me?"

"Great name, sir. I can't work out where the Zangoose came from though."

"Does it matter?"

"Well, I can't help but wonder."

"It doesn't matter. Draw your own conclusions from it!" Dennis snapped, before the mutant in front of them spoke up. His anger apparent in his voice.

"What do you need from me?" Balzan demanded. "Need me to slice a guy up, then hide his remains somewhere. Because I'll do that. I'm cra-a-a-zy."

"Balzan!" Dennis ordered. "I need you to take us to the future. Now!"

"Can I slice someone in the future? Maybe subject them to some sort of clamping motion."  
"Yeah, sure whatever."

* * *

"So, that's time travel," Luke commented, shaking himself off as they reappeared in the same clearing as the past. "Interesting."

"Ah, I tend not to notice it," Celebi replied. "Strange story. This one time, I was in a bad way and I accidentally transported two present day trainers to almost this exact point. It had interesting results."

"We still in the Illex Forest?" Xavier asked, looking around. "Didn't know if at some point in the last century, Johto got an even larger collection of trees."

"Actually, we are," Nebula replied. "Not too far away from my shrine."

"I wish I had a shrine," Ryan muttered. "That's one heck of an ego boost."

"Hey, if we're in the Illex Forest," Duo commented, turning to run. Sprinting a hundred yards to a gap in the trees, the black ranger quickly let out an excited sound.

"It's still there," he said. "My home town. It's still there."

"Really, which one?" Katie asked. "You know, because there's one on each side of the forest?"

"Goldenrod City," Duo said, still gazing down to the large city. An odd inflection in his voice as he spoke. "Looks exactly the same a hundred years on. I don't know whether to be sad or happy."

"I don't get it," Paige said. "Are you being sarcastic? Last time I saw Goldenrod City, it looked completely different to this."

"Of course I'm being sarcastic," the black ranger replied, rolling his eeys. "When have you ever known me not to be."

"Maybe Goldenrod City would be a good place for you to start," Celebi remarked. "There's good people there. I'll be watching and waiting. I'll come find you when you're no longer needed here."

With those words still hanging, the Celebi vanished. Leaving the seven rangers alone.

"Anyone else think that Goldenrod City sounds like a really good idea?" Paige asked. "Because..."

* * *

"That part's different," Duo said, gesturing to the city entrance. "It somehow looks newer."

"I wonder if the people in this time are all really intelligent and good looking," Nahir commented. "Since it's the future."

"Remember evolution doesn't work like that," Ryan offered. "It takes thousands, probably more likely millions of years. Either that or six generations worth of cross breeding with other species."  
"Why would you even bring that up?" Xavier wondered, as a loud whirring sound started to ring out through the immediate vicinity. The blue ranger quickly bringing his hands up to his ears, wincing in pain at the sound, as were the other rangers. "Jeez, that's loud and painful."

"Come on, boys!" an elderly yet enthusiastic voice called. "We have to gather up the chronotons in this area! The readings are huge! If I didn't know any better I'd say a large group of people must have time travelled right near here! But think! The chronotons could reveal all sorts of hidden secrets of evolution! Think about what we could learn about the dinosaurs! This may be the proof we're looking for!"

"Evolution?" another voice asked, as three figures came into view from around a corner. The lead figure who carried a strange device with a huge aerial on it was a short bald man with a bushy moustache. He wore plain beige shorts and a matching t-shirt and hat. Also, he had a pair of binoculars around his neck, a belt full of tools and wore black socks up to the knees. One of his companions, the one who had spoken, was thin and had very dark skin. He wore white trainers with velcro, a blue t-shirt with a Psyduck's head on it, and the word Golduck written below it. Completing his attire was a pair of purple pants and he had thinning black hair. The final member of the group had long blond hair and a beard, he wore a green t-shirt with the words 'my name is Carl' written on it upside down badly, grey pants and pink trainers on the wrong feet with the laces undone. He was also fat, and could barely keep his jeans up. "...Survival of the fittest, Darwinism."

Carl grunted, but nonetheless asked "Professor, what does the scanner say about the chronoton levels?"

Glancing at his device, the spry old man let out a gasp. "It's over NINE THOUSAND!"  
"What, nine thousand!" Carl cried.  
"Professor Trex," the thinner member of the group said. "Can I point something out?"  
"You can indeed, Donny," Trex replied. "Go ahead."  
"There's nothing here," Donny insisted, looking around the area. "Just a group of random teens wearing clothes of various colours. Like we've never seen that before in Goldenrod City. Maybe your machine doesn't work."  
"Hmm. Perhaps. Hmph! That's Devon for you boys! Always go with Silph products..."

"You know what I said about intelligence?" Nahir asked. "Forget it. There's the same morons in the future as the past."

"Like they said," Luke remarked, as the seven of them moved away from the weird trio. "Evolution doesn't happen overnight. Besides, some sections of society are likely to be..."

"Thick?" Ryan wondered. "Clinically stupid? Cannon fodder for big faceless corporations like the Sunderland Drinks Company."

"Hey!" the purple ranger exclaimed. "Mind you, I wonder if that still exists in this time."

"That's not really very nice, is it?" Paige asked. "You guys have been in the future for five minutes and you're already taking the piss out of the locals."

"Somebody has to do it," Duo offered. "Wonder what they meant about random teens wearing various coloured clothes?"

"Search me," Katie said. "Unless there are other rangers hanging around in this time period."

"Now, wouldn't that be an amazing coincidence," Xavier commented.

* * *

"Gyah," Dennis groaned, he, Arbok and Balzan landing on the grass at the base of a huge mountain. The outline of the structure rising high into the sky above them. "I'm never doing that again! Unless it's to get back."

"That's kinda inevitable," Arbok said, trying to be helpful. "Unless you want to stay here forever. Well, I say forever, until we die of old age. Come to think of it, do you think that we age after the mutation. Because..."

"Shut up!" Balzan hissed, swiping out a claw at the Coppinger scientist. "You'll scare away possible slicee's."

"Everything that we do is not about slicing!" Arbok snarled, before the trio heard a cough behind them.

"I think we're being watched," Balzan said, sagely. Before flipping out. "How dare you watch me! Come any closer and I'll..."

Rounding on the cougher, he let out a small squeak at the sight of what was there. A strange creature that resembled a black Rhyhorn that was perched on its hind legs. His head had flipped around to face forward, while he also had fairly long arms. Within one of the hands at the end of the arms, he carried a large spiked hammer.

"Or what?" he asked, calmly. "You're not from around here."

"Neither are you!" Dennis snapped. "Is this what humanity has become nearly a century on from our time?"

"Human?" the creature asked, a sense of disparage in his voice. "I'm no human. I am Stegatrix of the planet Dinos."

"Great, there's alien monsters in the future," Arbok commented. "Terrific."

"You are wrong on both counts," Stegatrix said. "This is our planet. You're not Dinosians. Neither are you human. So..."

His voice dropped an octave, his eyes narrowing in anger as he finished his sentance. The spiked hammer in his hand twitching slightly as he took a step towards the Coppingers.

"Watch who you call a monster."

"We're mutants," Dennis replied, slightly taken aback by the threatening gesture. "Although, not by choice. I am Dennis. Leader of the Coppingers. That's my scientist, advisor, consigliere and..."

"I also cook," Arbok offered. "Hi, I'm Arbok."

"You have anything that I can slice?" Balzan asked. "Because I'm starting to get bored with standing around talking."

"And you're Stegatrox," Dennis said. "You just happen to show up where we appear in the future?"

"Stegatrix," the Dinosian corrected, his visage becoming more threatening by the second. "Remember it. You gave off a huge unknown energy signal arriving at this point. We spotted it from our home, I was designated to come down and see what it was."

"We're here to look for something," Dennis replied. "Something that forced us to come to the future. Our enemies came here and..."

"What something might this be?"

"Is it any of your business?" Balzan demanded. "All that you need to know is that it's powerful. And other than that, it's not imp..."

"Balzan, be quiet!" Dennis ordered. "Reveal all our plans here, why don't you!"

"Something powerful?" Stegatrix asked, a glint flashing across his eyes as he spoke. The previously raised hammer now lowered, his threatening demeanour almost gone. "Sounds interesting. I tell you what. Maybe we can work something out."

"What kind of 'something' are you thinking of?" Arbok wondered. "Because..."

"Do you know something?" the Coppinger leader asked, his gaze fully focused on Stegatrix. "Because, if you do... Maybe we can come to some arrangement."

"Indeed," the Dinosian mused. "Please, step out onto my planet."

"That sounded wrong," Arbok muttered. "Meh, whatever, I've heard stranger things."

"So, on this planet..." Balzan started to say. "You have plenty of things that..."

"If you mention slicing one more time, I'm going to drag you up that mountain and hurl you off the top of it," Dennis warned. "Get over it!"

* * *

"Wonder if there's any place out there that we could get some information," Duo said, before glancing up to a building in front of the group. "Mind you, that's new. Seems like some sort of club or youth centre or something. I don't know, I never seen it before."

"Hey, let's check this place out," Xavier remarked, gesturing to the sign. "Golden Youths. Seems like a great place to get our bearings. See where we're going and all that."

"Ah, why not," Katie said. "Could do with a drink. Anyone else feel thirsty after the time travel?"

"You think that's a usual effect of it?" Nahir asked. "Because that would be interesting."

"Not really," Luke commented. "You zap through a hundred years of history and you probably will feel a bit thirsty."

"What's that sign say?" Paige asked, glancing over to it. "Costume Day?"

"You're kidding, right?" Ryan said. "Ryan Leopard wears no costume for no reason. Except the ranger suit and for fighting evil."

"Says it's for charity," Xavier commented, glancing closer. "First drink is free, the days proceeds go to charity."

"Can I point out that the last time we did a non ranger good deed," Luke offered. "That most of us ended up being chased across town by blood seeking ranger hunters."

"What harm can it do?" Katie asked, pushing the door open. "Either way."

* * *

"Nice place," Arbok commented, as he, Dennis and Balzan made their way through a magnificent palace on the Dinosian home planet. "I mean, it's a bit gaudy, but I wouldn't mind living some place like this in the future. Or rather, the past."

All around them, the three Coppingers could see several bright orange lizard-like creatures swarming around. Not really threatening at the moment, but all of them got the impression that they could be dangerous if it came down to it.

"Our pets."

The simple explanation came from a figure sat on a throne at the end of the room. A tall, thin Slowking-like creature, his crown more like a Cloyster than a Shellder. His snout was quite big, while his skin had splotches of the colouring on a shiny Slowking, while the main shade was the regular pink colour. He also wore a purple, velvet cloak.

"These are our Zaroids," the figure said. "You'll have to forgive me, I am Oday. Ruler of this planet. Now, you've got two minutes to explain why you're here, what you're looking for and..."

"Hang on!" Dennis snapped. "I don't care what planet you rule. Talk to me like that again, and I'll rip that crown from your head and shove it up your ar..."

"Woah!" Arbok said, stepping in front of them. "Calm down, sir. He is the ruler of this planet, and I think we should accord him some respect. I don't really want to get spaced. We're part of the Coppingers, we're an elite group of super criminals from the past. We're here in the future, looking for a component of a supremely powerful item known as the Genesis Book, which when fully powered up can rewrite the entire fabric of the world as it exists, which we know that one must be around here because our enemies are here. And they wouldn't be without good reason. However, we haven't started looking for it yet, because we're up here talking to you."

"Your servant talks a lot."

A third voice came out into the palace, another figure striding in through one of the entrances. This one clearly female, she closely resembled an Aerodactyl whose legs and torso were similar size and style to a humans. Her arms were part of her wings and she wore battle armour"If a Zaroid spoke like that, we'd have him put to death."

"My half sister, Farrah," Oday said, acknowledging her. "We're in a discussion."

"What about?" she demanded, shooting a disgusted glance at Dennis, Arbok and Balzan. "What are these scum here for?"

"I invited them up here to discuss a proposal," Stegatrix replied, folding his arms. "Which..."

"Super criminals as well," Farrah continued. "Are we really recruiting the dregs of human society to help gain back our home now?"

"We shall discuss this later," Oday said, ignoring her to focus back onto Dennis and Arbok. "This item that you seek. How powerful is it?"

"Hard to say," Dennis replied. "Could be supernova strong. Could be nothing. Either way, it's important to us."

"Your enemies," Stegatrix commented. "Wouldn't happen to be five through to seven of them, all wearing multi-coloured costumes, would they?"

"How did you guess?" Arbok wondered. "What aren't you telling us?"

"I think we can come to some sort of arrangement," Oday said. "We'll help you find that artefact that you seek. In the mean time, we'll also arrange a little surprise for your enemies."

Looking over to a group of Zaroids, he jerked his head to them. The group slowly getting up to leave, his order quickly snapping out.

"Zaroids, attack!"

* * *

"Check this place out," Duo said, glancing around. "Nice! There's some awesome girls here in the future. Those Goldenrod females... Smoking."

"Calling wingman," Ryan called, as the seven of them made their move through. The group suddenly looking out of place in amidst the costumed patrons. As few as they were at ten in the morning.

"I'm checking out the blond at the bar," the black ranger said, making to head over to it. "Be back soon."

"He's going to crash and burn," Paige commented. "Anyone else want to take bets on how long it'll take?"

"Sixty seconds!" Xavier offered, sticking his hand up. "Minimum."

"You can't call minimum," Luke said. "That's against all laws of gambling. Unless it's a game that includes the use of minimum. Then this conversation is pointless. For the purposes of this, it doesn't."

* * *

"This is a bad idea," Farrah said, as Dennis, Arbok and Balzan left the chamber. "You can't honestly trust them. Not only are they closer to human than Dinosian, they're also probably planning to betray us at the first possible opportunity."

"If they are enemies of the rangers," Oday replied. "Then, we might as well take that help."

"They're criminals," Stegatrix reminded him. "I agree with Farrah. It is a bad idea."

"You two don't have enough faith in me," the Dinosian leader said, shaking his head. "Because, as soon as we have that item in our grasp..."

He paused for a moment to let out a short laugh. Stegatrix and Farrah looking at each other in surprise. Surprise that they had somehow underestimated Oday.

"... They will no longer be any use to us."

* * *

"Hi," Duo said, waving the blond girl who was serving the patrons. In tune with the costume theme of the day in Golden Youths, she was wearing a female Team Rocket uniform. The white variety. "Rock on over, we're interested in drinks."

"Interesting," she said. The name tag on her chest reading the name Anna. "How long did it take you to come up with the Team Rocket pun? And it's only the eighth I've heard already today."

"I always thought that seven was an unlucky number," Duo replied. "So, I've done you a favour. Seven varying drinks please."

"Are you in costume?" she asked, suspiciously.

"Are you really a member of Team Rocket?" he shot back. "Yeah, I'm in costume. I'm a twenty first century guy."

"That was only just over eight years ago. Might want to try harder."

"Early twenty first century guy."

"Well, you do dress in that old fashioned style," Anna said, finally accepting the ploy. "Are all your friends twenty first century people as well?"

"Yep," he said. "So..."

"Anything else that you want? Maybe some food?"

"Nah, I'm good," Duo said. "So, what time do you get o..."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen, so don't try it. I'll have someone fetch them over when they're ready."

Letting out an inward groan, the black ranger turned to leave. Much to the applause of the other Genesis rangers.

"Brilliant," Ryan said. "I withdraw my option of wingman-ing."

As Duo opened his mouth to protest at his luck, the doors opened up to reveal another three figures coming in. One was a blond teenage girl, who looked similar to Anna. She was wearing what looked like an old style ringmaster costume, with a yellow jacket, white shirt and black shorts. The guy next to her was roughly the same height as her, he also had brown hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a white jacket with exaggerated frills on the sleeves, a light brown coloured shirt underneath it and a red neckerchief. Also, a pair of jeans, cowboy boots and a stetson. The final member of the trio was wearing a pink body suit, with several red splashes across it, as well as a mask that resembled the head of a Lickitung.

"All I can say," the guy dressed as a Lickitung said, moving his mask to reveal a pair of hazel eyes and spiky brown hair. "Is that you guys look like idiots."

"Really, Kyle?" the cowboy asked. "You think we're the only ones?"

"Isn't it national look like an idiot day?" the blond girl asked, before waving over at Anna. "Hey sis. Lovin' the retro Team Rocket uniform. You been blasting off yet?"

"Oh ha ha," Anna called back, shaking her head in amusement.

"Guess the others are running a bit late," the cowboy said, looking around. "Oh well."

"To coin a popular phrase," Paige said. "The future is a very strange place."

"Just a bit..."

* * *

"That was a great drink," Nahir said. "The future's looking rosy if that's what we've got in store. Oran berries mixed with Cherri, Nanab and some other stuff."

"Hmm... Maybe I'll start to market that as an idea when we head back," Luke commented. "Because, that is a good idea."

"Typical corporate type," Xavier quipped. "You see something that looks like it could make you money and you bastardise it."

"It's the Sunderland way," the purple ranger replied. "Ain't no other one like it. Because..."

Before Luke could explain exactly why his way was right, something large and orange raced into view, taking him down before he could react and defend himself. As he hit the ground, the other rangers turned to see more of the orange creatures slathering towards them.

"What the hell are these things?" Ryan asked. "Any ideas?"

"Ten to one says that they're not friendly," Katie said, glancing around. Several citizens of Goldenrod City instantly running away screaming at the sight of the Zaroids. The creatures already filing out as a group to attack the rangers. "No morphing. It's too public."  
"Ah, that suits me," Luke replied, punching one of them in the face. Only for it to recover quickly and try to hit him with its tail, the purple ranger barely dodging it. "I'm about to unleash my inner thoughts onto these things."

"Ditto what I just said," Katie ordered, ducking under a slash from a Zaroid, before kicking it twice in the stomach. Her attack having much the same effect as Luke's, the red ranger quickly going in with an upper cut to the chin. Which did do something, knocking the creature back away from her. "No powers! Too risky."

"Spoilsport," Duo pouted, the black ranger stepping back to evade an attack of his own. "It's not like we're sticking around to..."

Pausing for a moment, he jumped up and hit a Zaroid with a roundhouse kick to the face. Stunning it momentarily, he followed up with another flurry of powerful kicks, the creature spinning around in pain. In that moment, Duo dived on its back and held on.

Meanwhile, Paige, Nahir, Ryan and Xavier were struggling with the rest. Activating his inner ability, Xavier took several hits straight into the chest from the Zaroid claw attacks, only for two of them to get smart and toss him aside. Both Nahir and Paige went on the attack, their strikes managing to force the enemies back for a moment.

"I really miss my power right about now," Ryan muttered, jumping up from where he'd been thrown by a Zaroid. "Funny that, right."

"Well, look at that. Zaroids in broad daylight."

The calm yet sarcastic female voice rang out across the battle scene, seconds before several bursts of laser fire came streaking in and hit the Zaroids. The blasts taking them down very quickly, the unmorphed rangers looking around to see where the voice had come from.

"Okay, woah!" Luke yelled, as three figures came into view. Each of them wearing a ranger suit. One in red, one in yellow and one in white. The red ranger's suit was red, while is chest bore a white symbol of a claw slash. On the upper right of his torso, there was a small badge reading the words Dino Force. He also had metal shoulder and knee pads. His helmet had a silver mouthpiece, while his visor was a rectangular shape with what looked like several teeth across the top and bottom in a section towards the middle. The yellow ranger's costume was more or less the same, with the exception of a brown skirt. It was also yellow, while her visor was also a rectangular shape only extending up and round to the sides of the helmet. It also had a brown tinge around the edge. On the other hand, the white ranger had a black visor, with brown armour on his chest with a strange black symbol across it. There were seven colours above the symbol, whhile his belt, boots and gloves were silver. His belt buckle was green and L shaped, while he had a pair of gold weapons there. There was a red morpher across his wrist, and the insides of his legs had a black outline.

"Not on our watch," the white ranger yelled, leaping into action to hit a Zaroid with a flying kick. The powerful blow throwing it back through the air, as it hit the wall in the alley it slowly began to squelch down the side, leaving a trail of slime on the bricks. Recovering his poise, he found himsef surrounded by four more. Without hesitating, he moved up to kick one of the ones closest to him in the face, making contact with the attack. As the other three swarmed towards him, he spun the stunned Zaroid around to hurl at them, the weakened creature blocking two of them away from him. Going for the other, the white ranger flung himself into a tackle, punching the Zaroid twice in the stomach. Hearing it hiss in pain, he turned it around for the creature to take the attacks from the other two that had initially surrounded him. As their claws flailed into the scaled skin of the defeated Zaroid, the morphed white ranger hurdled the remains to carry on the fight. Ducking under a tail attack, he dropped to all fours to kick the legs out from the one closest to him, hearing it hit the ground as he rolled to evade the attack from the other one.

"Slash Baton!" the red ranger shouted, bringing out a weapon that resembled a brown metal rod with a blade at each end. Quickly moving it up, he took down two Zaroids in an expert fashion. Sweeping it up and out, he quickly moved through the ranks, working the blade. After the first four had gone down, several decided to rush him at once. Jumping back, the morphed red ranger landed on the ground, using his Slash Batton to parry a claw attack thrown at his face.

"I've got your back!" the yellow ranger yelled, bringing out a weapon in the same colour as her suit, something that resembled a large blaster.

"Dome Blaster!" she shouted, pulling the trigger to release a sparkling ray of energy into the Zaroids. "Fire!"

As the energy beam hit it, several Zaroid were instantly evaporated by the blasts. Leaving the unmorphed rangers to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Okay, thanks," Katie said, looking over to the other rangers. "We appreciate it."

"Just be more careful," the white ranger called. "The world is a dangerous place."

"No kidding," Xavier muttered. "Hey, wait a second. We want to talk to you."

"Everyone wants a piece of the rangers," the other red ranger groaned. "Sorry, but... We've got super secret things to do."

"What, clean your Zords?" Luke asked, caustically, as the other rangers began to leave the scene. "Hey, get back here!"

"After them!" Ryan yelled, the seven rangers from the past starting to chase after the future rangers.

"Still following us?"

* * *

As the group turned into an alley, they saw the morphed red, white and yellow rangers waiting for them. All of them with their arms folded.

"Anyone else feel like we're about to get a lecture?" Duo asked. "Because..."

"Go on," the red ranger said, his voice heavy with resignation. "Why are you after us?"

"Because we're rangers too," Katie said. "We're from the past. We came here to look for..."

"Not here," the other yellow ranger replied. "If you're rangers, then prove it. Morph."

"I'm not morphing here," Paige said. "How about we show you some of..."

Her voice tailing off, she reached over to the wall and walked through it. Activating her incorporeality to do so, she quickly stepped back out again, an embarrased look on her face.

"Aren't those the toilets of Golden Youths?" the morphed red ranger asked. "Yeah, don't do that."

Shaking his head, Ryan reached down and placed his hand on the ground. His control over plants causing a small vine to rise up out of a crack in the ground. Duo quickly turned invisible and reappeared several times on the spot. Luke picked up a dumpster with the power of his mind, before hurling it at Nahir who used her super speed to dodge it. Instead, it hit Xavier who survived it unharmed thanks to his ability to turn his skin into liquid.

"Okay, I'm convinced," the morphed white ranger said. "What about..."

"What can you do?" the other red ranger asked, looking over to Katie. "Because..."

"Try and put us through more stupid tests and you'll find out," she warned. "I generate heat."

"Yeah, she's hot," Duo called. "Couldn't you..."

"Really?" the red ranger asked, looking around at him. "That the best you could come up with?"

"Ah, give me time," the black ranger replied. "Off the top of the head... Well, yeah, it was terrible."

For a moment, he mused on it before speaking again.

"But, true."

"Awww..." the morphed yellow ranger said, only a slight taste of sarcasm in her voice. "That's..."

"Power down," the male red ranger said, the three rangers in front of them instantly morphing out of their suits. To reveal three people, one dressed as a Lickitung, one as a cowboy and one as a ringmaster.

"Hey, I remember you," Luke said. "You're those three from Golden Youths."

"More or less," the cowboy replied. "Hey, how's it going, I'm Alex. Alex Wright."

"Rei Danime," the blond girl who had been wearing the yellow ranger suit said. "And..."

"Hi," Duo said, a huge grin spreading across his face. "How you doing?"

"Errr... I'm fine," she replied, uneasily. "Not that it's really..."

"And I'm Kyle," the guy dressed as a Lickitung said. "Weaver. Kyle Weaver. I guess you best come back to our base."

"It's just this way," Rei said, as the ten of them started to leave. But not before Ryan spoke up.

"Kyle," he said.

"Yeah."

"What are you meant to be?"

"Lickitung Man," the red ranger replied. "Does whatever a Lickitung can. It's a long story."

"Well, not really," Alex said, slightly snidely.

* * *

"The Goldenrod Gym?" Katie asked, as the group moved towards the back of the building. "Interesting place. Does the gym leader know?"

"Actually, she's kinda our mentor in a way," Rei said. "But, she's not around right now. She's currently in the hospital. Not too long ago, she had an accident. It didn't end well..."

Her voice tailing off, the ten of them reached a control panel at the back. The yellow ranger quickly reaching up to place her palm against it, a door opened up to reveal some stairs.

"After you," she said.

Moving into the chamber below the gym, the rangers from the past heard a voice greeting them.

"Come on in!" it said, the speaker then coming into view. Something that none of them would ever have expected...

"Holy toledo," Luke muttered, at the sight of the figure in front of him. It looked like a Mr. Mime, only that the half of his face and his left arm were made of a bronze metal, as was his right leg. Only the right side of his face had an ear. On his wrist, he wore a pink morpher.

"This is Miborg," Rei said. "He's part of our tech support. And he's also our pink ranger."

"Nice one," both Paige and Nahir said, before high fiving each other. "Pink ranger club."

"I don't get it," Alex remarked. "What are you...? Why are they...? What's going on?"

"It's okay, Alex," Miborg said. "I got a visit from an old friend earlier. He told me that some new rangers had arrived. And that we should afford them all sorts of courtesy, they're here on a very important mission from the past."  
"The past?" Kyle asked. "Awesome. What's the past like? Do people have hover cars, or..."

"We were going to ask you the same about the future," Xavier said. "Do you have them here?"

"Errr... No. That would be ridiculous."

"So did you already know that?" Xavier asked, looking to the three rangers from the current present day. "When you..."

"Actually, no," Alex admitted. "So, why are you...?"

"Before we hear the story," Miborg interrupted. "I think we should get the others here. So we don't have to tell it twice."

* * *

"Guess you all came from Golden Youths, huh?" Kyle said, as four new people came into the room. One of them being the girl from Golden Youths, Anna.

"Hey, guys," Miborg called, smiling at them all as they came down the stairs. "You manage to get away?"

"Apparently," the first new arrival said, before seeing the other rangers down in BoO. "So, what's going on down here?"

Tailing off, the Genesis rangers began to look at the other new arrivals. The first one, who had already spoken on arrival, was dressed in a green and white striped shirt, along with three quarter pants. He also wore a pirate's hat and an eyepatch. He had tamed black hair and his skin was a deep brown.

"You meant to be a pirate?" Luke wondered. "Because..."

"It seemed so simple," the figure replied. "Hi, I'm Ritchie."

Next to Ritchie, was a girl. She was wearing a blue scuba suit, and like Kyle, she had hazel coloured eyes. Her hair was also blue and shoulder length.

"Nanene," she said. "Nanene Valentine."

"That's an enchanting name," Duo commented. "Hey, how's it going. Can't stress how much I like that name. It's unusual."

"Man, you got it bad," the final member said. His hair was black with blond tips. He was also wearing a black suit and tie combo, as well as a gangster-style hat.. "You hit on every girl you see?"

"Pretty much," Nahir offered. "We've often thought about throwing a bucket of cold water over him, but we thought it would get too much fun."

"It's rich coming from you, James," Nanene said. "Commenting about someone hitting on someone too much."

"I got over it, didn't I?" James replied, before smiling at them. "James Masterson."

"So, there are eight of you?" Luke asked. "I don't quite follow."

"I'm not a ranger," Anna said. "I used to be, but now I just support the team. Through thick and thin. So, who are..."

"My name is Katie," Katie replied, taking a step forward. "I'm the red ranger of the Genesis team. And..."

"Ha!" Rei said, looking at Kyle. "Told you so!"

"Wait, what?" Katie asked. "I don't get it."

"It's a discussion we had a long time ago," she said, quickly. "Not important."

"You're not the only one who doesn't get it," Kyle replied, staring at Rei. "What are you...?"

"Just a debate about leadership that we had a while ago," Rei said. "Actually, it's not relevant. Carry on."

"Anyway, I'm Duo," the black ranger offered, looking around the Dino Force team. Shaking his head slightly at the brief argument that had just broken out between the two rangers. "Black ranger and second in command."

"Xavier," Xavier said, offering a short wave. "I'm the blue ranger."  
"I'm Luke," Luke commented. "My colour is purple. I'm the purple ranger. The one and only."

"Actually, history has shown us that there was at least one other purple ranger in the past," Miborg interrupted. "But never mind."

"Ryan," Ryan said. "Green ranger."

"Just us left?" Nahir asked, smiling nervously. "I'm Nahir. Nahir Moon. And I'm the yellow ranger for this team."

"And, my name is Paige," Paige finished, bringing her wrist up to display her morpher. "White ranger."

"Heh, you've mostly got the same colours as our team," Ritchie said. "Except that we've got Mime Ranger, where you've got a purple ranger. Neat."

"So, now that we're all here and introduced," Kyle commented. "What's next? Why are you here?"

"We're looking for..." Katie started to say, before an alarm rang out. Miborg groaning at the sound before turning to look at the consoles within BoO.

"Oh no," he groaned. "There's a Dinosian on the loose. A giant one at Ecruteak City."

"Wonder why Ecruteak City?" Nanene asked. "I mean... That's unusual."

"Either way, we better get going," James said. "Take it down."

"You need some help?" Duo asked. "Because..."

"Ah, there's only one of them," Kyle replied. "We should be able to take him. We've got more experience of fighting them, we can probably get it done in ten minutes and be back here."

"Are you certain you don't want me along?" Alex asked. "Because..."

"I said that we've got it," Kyle said, almost glaring at Alex. "Just drop it, okay?"

"Fine then," the alpha ranger replied, taking a step back. "Your choice."

At his acceptance Kyle and the other four rangers bringing their hands up to reveal gloves.

"Let's do this!" Kyle shouted. "It's morphin' time! AncientPower!"

Squeezing their hands together, the five of them morphed into their ranger suits. James' suit was the same as Kyle's, apart from being black, while his visor seemed more like two seperate large single eye visors that were connected by a much thinner piece of plastic. As was Ritchie's, apart from his being green. His visor was a rectangular shape that widened at both ends. Finally, Nanene's was blue, her suit had a skirt and her visor was shaped like a three edged crucifix, with the part that would normally be on the bottom missing.

"Gloves for morphers," Nahir said, looking at the five of them. "Cool."

"Okay, let's go!" Kyle shouted, the morphed rangers starting to run up the stairs towards the exit.

"Sending the Zords," Miborg called, hitting several buttons in front of him. "They'll be there by the time you get onto the battle scene."

"Cool, a Zord battle," Luke said, finding somewhere to sit. "Anyone got popcorn?"

* * *

"Got to agree with you," Ryan commented. "It'll be different than actually being in the midst of it."

The attacking Dinosian ahead of them resembled a giant silver Machamp, only he had the head of a Hitmonchan, his knuckles were covered with giant golden knuckledusters and he had the legs of a Hitmonlee.

"Brutus smash!" he roared, demolishing a building with a sweep of his two left hands. "Puny humans."

"Now, that's just racist," Kyle commented, from the cockpit of an Aerodactyl Zord. James was in an Armaldo, Nanene in an Omastar, Rei in a Kabutops and Ritchie in a Cradily. "You ready to do this?"

"Whadda ya think, boy?" the Zord asked. "Don't ask stupid questions, or you'll get a whack. We're always ready to kick these things all over."

"Dino Force Megazord formation!"

Within moments, the five Zords began to transform into their Megazord form. The lower part of the Armaldo Zord's torso split into two, extending out its legs. Its arms retracted and the tail moved against its back. The Aerodactyl Zord came down and placed both wings against either side of the Armaldo, the tips covering part of the front of the torso. Next, the Omastar Zord's tendrils started to form a hand, while the Cradily Zord did the same. Moving up, the two of them formed the arms of the Megazord, the Cradily being the right arm, the Omastar the left. The Kabutops Zord's body retracted into its head, the blades resting at its side. The body quickly formed a handle, which was taken by the Cradily Zord, while the jaw of the Aerodactyl Zord split open to form a face. The five rangers found themselves standing in the cockpit. Their action having drawn the attention of Brutus.

"Brutus smash!" the Dinosian repeated, stomping towards the machine. His giant muscles flexing away across his huge frame as he moved with all the grace of an inebriated Snorlax.

"You picked the wrong time to attack!" James said, as the Dino Force Megazord went into attack. Throwing several punches at Brutus, the Dinosian took all of the blows with ease. As he shrugged them away, he hit out with two of his fists, the blows sending shock waves throughout the machine. Cracks started to appear in the frame of the Megazord, the circuitry visible below the damage, as the rangers inside the cockpit tried desperately to steady the robot.

"This guy hits hard!" Rei yelled. "Man!"

"He hits hard, we hit harder!" Kyle said, directing the Megazord into hitting Brutus again. The blow not really doing much damage, Brutus let out a laugh as he retaliated with a hit of his own. A Mega Punch into the stomach of the Dino Force Megazor. "Let's prove that."

"He looks like a fighting type," Nanene offered. "I think we should use a psychic type move to blast him."

"That would be the logical choice," Ritchie said. Seconds before Brutus struck out again, grabbing the Megazord clean up off the ground before smashing it back down to earth again.

"They feed this guy steroids?" James asked, as the five of them quickly moved the Megazord back into a standing position. "Because if they are... They need to stop. Quickly."

"Activating TM program," Rei said, the Kabutops shaped weapon coming up to aim at Brutus. "Let's hit him hard."

"Initiating TM 29," Kyle said. "Psychic."

At his command, the weapon came up. A stream of indigo coloured energy warping out of it, the powerful blast striking Brutus in the chest. Doubling over in clear pain, the Dinosian started to grunt in pain, his huge frame causing the ground to shake as he dropped to his knees. A course of white energy starting to ripple across his skin as he let out another groan.

"Not so scary now, are you?" James said, smugly.

"They never are," Rei observed. "When they're about to..."

Completely cutting her off, Brutus rose up from his pained position, charging towards the Megazord. His huge bulky frame knocking the robot back with ease, the Dinosian instantly stretching out his multitude of limbs as the Megazord staggered.

"Brutus tickled!"

"Oh no!" Nanene groaned. "Did that even do anything?"

"Come on, guys," Kyle said, looking back across to Brutus. "We can pull through this. It's an even fight."

Then, disaster struck. The giant form of Balzan appeared from out of nowhere, launching several powerful slash attacks with his claws into the back of the Dino Force Megazord.

"Finally, something I can slice!" he roared, not letting up against the unguarded back of the robot. His claws ripped away through the metallic skin, the systems going haywire as the attacks continually landed. Within moments, Brutus threw out a Dynamic Punch attack, the blow hitting the Megazord in the face. The powerful blow almost taking out the back of the Megazord's head, the rangers were instantly thrown out of the robot, landing on the ground in pain. No sooner had they landed, a group of Zaroids, backed up by Stegatrix and Arbok appeared to grab them. Immediately jumping up to fight them, the rangers were quickly beaten back down by the sheer force of the numbers that had overwhelmed them. Bringing his hammer back, Stegatrix easily managed to knock Ritchie unconscious with a single strike. Within moments, all five of them were defeated by the surprise attacks from the superior forces. With barely any chance to fight back, they were quickly grabbed up by the Zaroids, who quickly took the opportunity to leave the scene. Their captives vanishing along with them, as the Megazord went down. Brutus and Balzan celebrating for a moment, before vanishing along with their colleagues.

* * *

"Oh crap!" Ryan said, as the screen in front of them went black. "That was... Brutal."

"I should have gone with them," Alex groaned, his face ashen with worry at what had just happened. "This might not have happened otherwise."

"Or it could have happened exactly the same way," Katie pointed out. "You can't say that. So..."

"Errr... Guys?" Anna asked, looking over to the screens in front of them. "Something's happening. Something..."

Interrupting her, a booming voice emerged through the speakers in BoO. Miborg, momentarily startled by the sudden sound, quickly moved back over to the console and lowered the volume slightly.

"People of Earth...!"

"What the...?" Alex said, taking a step back. "That's Oday. How's he getting in contact with BoO?"

"He's not," Anna replied, quickly. "I mean... Whitney blocked him from being able to do that. It's something else."

"Hold on a second," Paige remarked, her head half cocked. "I can hear something. It's almost like they're using a massive loudspeaker to hail the entire planet."

"Yipes," Duo said. "That's got to be... What? A billion decibels?"

"Not important," Xavier commented, as Oday continued with his speech, the CCTV picking it up and relaying it out to the rangers.

"... We have most of your precious Poké Rangers in our grasp," the Dinosian leader said, a sneer in his voice. "And that's the way that it's going to stay unless the rest of them find something for us."

"Great," Nahir said, sarcastically. "Blackmailed by aliens. This day can't get any better."

"Those hearing this will know what we want," Oday's voice roared. "Find the Genesis artefact that is hidden here and fetch it to the area you call Mount Silver. We will make the trade there."

"Screw this," Alex remarked, cracking his knuckles in anticipation. "Let's ranger up and get them back. Head to Dinos."

"And just in case the rest of you are thinking of coming to get them, I strongly recommend that you don't," Oday finished. "It will not end well for either them or you. We have taken precautions to enable that you won't be able to get to them in time..."

Tailing off, only manic laughter rang out across the Earth. Everyone present in BoO looked around to each other in worry, their silence pondering what Oday had implied in his warning.

"I knew this would happen," Miborg groaned. "This is bad."

* * *

To Be Continued...

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**First of all, sorry about the delay on this. I came down with a cold and also, well, Psyduck wanted to check it over beforehand. Which forced it back a bit.**

**Thanks to Psyduck Ranger for help with the editing of this. And for help on the brief Donny/Carl/Trex scene.**

**But yeah, hope that you enjoyed it.**

**Thanks for the reviews. All appreciated. Completely.**

**The next one is part two. And also the final part. Don't know when it'll be up, but the preview is below.**

**So, thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review... Let's see... Dorlinda can reply today.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Thirty, Gifts Of The Future, Part Two, preview.**

**Katie: We have to help them.**

**Ryan: We don't know where the artefact is though.**

**Alex: This is obviously a distraction.**

**Miborg: You take your Zords to fight them. I'll get the others back.**

**Dennis: You ready to do this?**

**Kyle: We were born ready.**

**Nanene: Not this again!**

**Rei: Kyle! Stop!**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon...**


	30. Gifts Of The Future: Part Two

Chapter Thirty. Gifts Of The Future: Part Two.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_With the failure of Jirachi to lead the rangers to the Natual Gift, Dorlinda dragged a Celebi named Nebula over to the Silver Gyarados. After the initial shock, the rangers heard him reveal that he had moved the artefact to twenty second century Johto for safe keeping. Without hesitating, the seven of them went there, arriving in the Illex Forest. Moving into 2108 Goldenrod City, they encountered several strange people, until they were attacked by the foot soldiers of the Dinosian forces, the Zaroids. The Dinosians having come into contact with Dennis and Arbok earlier and formed an unclear agreement. As the unmorphed rangers struggled with the surprise attack, they were rescued by three of the Dino Force rangers, Kyle, Rei and Alex. Driving away the forces, the Genesis rangers were brought to BoO where they met the rest of the rangers and introduced themselves. Before they could go into detail as to why they were there, a Dinosian named Brutus attacked. Kyle, Nanene, James, Ritchie and Rei took their Zords to fight him, but Balzan came into the fray by surprise and managed to beat them down. Within moments, the Dino Force rangers were captured and Oday hailed the Earth to give the remaining rangers an ultimatum. Find the artefact and the other rangers would be released..._

_

* * *

_

Whistling a slight tune as he moved out into the main living area of the Time Hole, Dorlinda immediately sensed something was wrong. Something was out of place, a minute disturbance in the air.

"Nice place you've got here," a familiar voice remarked. Familiar yet distant, a voice that the Lord of Time couldn't remember hearing for over five hundred thousand years. "Full of technology. Figures."

Glancing over to the voice, Dorlinda took in the appearance of the man who had been largely responsible for him being what he was. The figure sat in the recliner across from him, an open box on the table in front of him, the contents revealed to be what looked like six morphing devices. Four of them being the same, one shaped like a Beldum and one in the style of a Houndoom's head.

"Clarence," he replied. "How've you been? It's been a while."

"It has," the Conduit said. "And yet, it hasn't seemed all that long for me. I would ask how you are but..."

"Before you say anything..." Dorlinda interrupted. "If you're mad about Forsythia..."

"I don't blame you for what happened to my granddaughter," Clarence replied. "Just as I warned all those years ago, none of you are eternal. Just immortal."

"Well, not that it's not great to see you again," the Lord of Time said. "But, I get the feeling that you didn't just drop in for a chat."

"This isn't the first time that we've met since that departure," Clarence answered. "You just don't remember the details."

Breaking off, he gestured down to the box of morphers in front of him.

"On a different subject, I've got to applaud you for this. Building your own morphers to give to humans so that they could save your brother. If you can see the lines, you can read between them. But, tell me. Only six. Why not seven?"

"I think we both know that Crane is going to need his morpher at least one more time," Dorlinda said, before going back onto the subject. "What do you mean? I don't remember the details."

"As you know, I became Dialga's conduit for reality," Clarence replied, almost trivialising the nature of the task with a shrug. "I have tremendous power at my disposal. And tremendous roles. One of which is the Genesis Book."

"Yeah, that I know," Dorlinda said. "You hid all ten components of it so that it couldn't be used for either good or evil purposes."

"A purpose of which now has to be abandoned. The main part has fallen into the hands of the Coppingers. I would rather that the rangers I created to get it back would do their job and reclaim the pieces before those vile creatures do. Because, I don't have to tell you what will happen if the Coppingers manage to combine all ten parts. You've already seen some of the outcome. What they are doing to this region in their attempts to snatch them all up."

"Why are you here, Clarence?" Dorlinda asked. "You're not telling me anything that I didn't already know. Or that I couldn't guess at."

"I'm interested to know how the sojourn to the future went," the Conduit replied. "Was Nebula helpful in the task? I see that you found him well."

"What makes me really interested," Dorlinda said. "Is how he seemed to remember the vague details of where he put the artefact. Rather than have it wiped completely. At first, I thought that it seemed careless. But, it was deliberate. Wasn't it?"

"What can I say?" Clarence smiled. "I wanted the rangers to find that artefact. How else would they get to it if I removed all traces of what had happened to it from Nebula's memory?"

"Why are you telling me this?

Getting up out of the chair, the Conduit flashed a subtle smile towards the Lord of Time. A sight that was enough to draw up the hairs on the back of Dorlinda's neck.

"It's not going to get any easier from here on in," Clarence said. "For anyone. You need to do everything that you can to keep the rangers on track in their quest. Up to this point, you've been on the periphary. Time for you to get in on the action more."

"I have never failed them when they need my help."

"Something tells me that when they return to this time," Clarence replied. "They may need it more than ever before."

* * *

**Poké Rangers...**

_Poké Rangers logo appears. Johto and Verger appear, lightning flashes illuminating the regions._

**Poké Rangers...**

_Outline of fourteen rangers appear in the background._

**Go...**

_Kyle appears, leaning against the Goldenrod Gym. Kyle Weaver. Red Dino Force Ranger. Created by Phoenix Espeon._

**It's time to meet...**

_Rei comes out of the Goldenrod Radio Tower. Rei Danime. Yellow Dino Force Ranger. Created by Mimi Tachikawa-Sincerity._

**Some friends...**

_Ritchie stands at the top of the Silph building. Ritchie Smith. Green Dino Force Ranger. Created by Psyduck Ranger._

**From a different place...**

_Nanene walks out of the pool in Goldenrod. Nanene Valentine. Blue Dino Force Ranger. Created by Mimi Tachikawa-Sincerity._

**Hook up against all odds...**

_James comes out of a studio in the Radio Tower. James Masterson. Black Dino Force Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**And save this world...**

_Miborg works away in BoO, eating a banana. Miborg. Pink Mime Ranger. Created by Psyduck Ranger._

**That's what we do...**

_Alex walks out of Golden Youths. Alex Wright. White Alpha Ranger. Created by Starfighter364._

**Because...**

_Anna appears. Donny, Carl and Trex try to squeeze into the picture behind her._

**We are Poké Rangers...**

_The Dinosians and the Coppingers appear, glaring at each other._

**We train to be the best...**

_Katie takes a step into Goldenrod City. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo._

**We are Poké Rangers...**

_Duo comes out of an alley. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by Jmb2nami._

**We fight and we will be...**

_Xavier walks into Golden Youths. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Victorious...**

_Ryan heads into the Goldenrod Gym. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Because...**

_Nahir looks up at the Radio Tower. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by FamousGirl01._

**We are the Poké Rangers...**

_Luke glances at a newspaper. Luke Sunderland. Purple Genesis Ranger. Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**And we will win...**

_Paige spots the breeding centre in the distance. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by FamousGirl01._

**Poké Rangers...**

_Bill, Lance and Dorlinda all appear._

**Oh yeah, Poké Rangers...**

_All Megazords appear. Katie and Kyle transform into their Battlizers._

**Come on, Poké Rangers...**

_All fourteen rangers shake hands with their counterparts. Explosions ring out._

**It's time for the Poké Rangers...**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Poké Rangers Dino Force created by Psyduck Ranger. Special Creative Consultant, Psyduck Ranger.

**Go...**

**

* * *

**

"We captured the rangers," Balzan cheered, as he and Arbok came back out into the throne room. "Not the rangers we hate, but rather some other schmucks from the future, but we still caught them. Can I slice them?"

"Nobody slices anyone," Stegatrix ordered, snapping at the mutant. "We made a deal and we intend to honour it."

"What?" Balzan exclaimed, looking like he'd heard Christmas had been cancelled. "But... They're hostages. I want to abuse the hostages. Physically. How about Dennis grows me again and I get to see the looks on their faces when they see me menacing them again!"

"As long as we're in agreement," Oday said, speaking up from his throne. "One thing. We do things our way. Your way has obviously proven to be error strewn in the past and this is probably the best way to go about it. Now, please restrain your... servant..."

Balzan clearly bristled at the slight. Barely managing to restrain himself from arguing further, he allowed the Dinosian leader to continue.

"... So we can get down to business. The rangers we captured are currently not going anywhere. That isn't going to change until we have this artefact in our grasp."

"Of course," Dennis replied. "That's your plan, it's a sound one. But, I have a counter proposal. In case the rangers come up here to try and rescue the other rangers..."

Pausing for a moment, he brought the Genesis Book out for dramatic effect.

"... I have a suggestion as to how this can be used to fortify your forces with immediate effect. Use this on them and they'll be much much stronger."

"Well, to that," Oday replied, slowly. "There can only be one answer."

* * *

"So, I don't get it," Paige said. "If you knew this would happen, then why..."

"It's just his thing," Anna replied. "His catchphrase."

"Hey!" Miborg complained. "Only ill thought out characters have catchphrases. Mine's more of a signature comment."

"As enlightening as this discussion might be," Katie said. "Need I remind you all that we have to help them. The other rangers."

"If only it was that easy," Alex replied. "They're currently on Dinos. A planet hovering above Earth. You can sometimes see it on a clear day. Far and away, in the distance. He's already told us why it's not a good idea to go after them."

"Any chance that he's bluffing?" Nahir asked. "Because..."

"I suppose there's a remote possibility," Miborg replied. "But, I doubt it. It might have sounded like an empty threat, but... With them all gone, I'm not willing to take the risk unless it has to be done. Not with a better way."

"All we have to do is find the artefact then," Xavier said. "And hand it over to... Yeah, I'm not comfortable with this."

"Me neither," Luke remarked. "Screw them. We find the artefact, we get out of here and go home. Because if we were in this situation, we'd have to find our own way out. Guess they're not as good as..."

"Hey!" Miborg yelled, snapping out at the comment. "Don't even consider that thought."

"Luke, knock it off," Katie ordered. "We've already got enough problems, we don't need the atmosphere turning uglier."

"Might I remind you that they're in this situation because of us," Duo said. "That second monster that appeared to attack them from behind. That looked like a Genesis created monster. Which means that the Coppingers are here."

"Which does change things slightly," Miborg interrupted. "If it was just the Dinosians behind this, I'd agree with you. But, you can't really blame yourselves for this."

"I think we're all in agreement on that, Miborg," Anna said. "It's not the first time that something from the past has shown up in the future to cause trouble."

"We're going to correct this," Katie replied. "We're not heading back to our own time, artefact or no artefact, until we've got your rangers back."

"There is one problem with that," Luke said, as Ryan also spoke, cutting him off in the midst of his sentence.

"We don't know where the artefact is though," the green ranger interrupted. "Could be anywhere."

"It's not like we don't have previous experience of doing this," Xavier said, rubbing his hands together. "Come on, if we split up, comb the region..."

"It won't take more than ten or twelve weeks," Duo finished, Anna already sticking her hand up to ask a question. "Come on, there has to be a better way of doing it."

"I don't get something," Anna said. "What's going on?"

"Time for the abridged version of the story," Nahir said. "And believe me, that's what it needs to be right now."

"Well..." Katie said. "Where to begin. It all started a long time ago with a group of people known as the Traore..."

* * *

"No!" Oday snarled, looking at the creature in front of them with horror. It had once been a Zaroid, but now it resembled a giant orange Flygon with huge spikes erupting out of its body. Its teeth were full of sharpened rotten teeth, while its claws were bigger than before and the tail had grown a club at the end. All in all while a Z was engraved into their chests, the scarred outlines pulsating with energy. "Not a chance that I'm going to subject a fine Dinosian warrior to that."

"Oh come on, keep an open mind!" Arbok protested. "This doesn't hurt..."

"No!" the Dinosian ruler repeated. "Do it to as many Zaroids as you want, but it's not going to happen to our citizens."

"Citizens?" Dennis asked, a smile flashing across his face. "Really? Your citizens. Not your slaves or..."

"You clearly haven't grasped the concept of what we are," Stegatrix said, angrily. "You might treat your underlings like that. But, we don't. All of our warriors are willing to sacrifice their lives in the hope that we may return to our native planet. And in return, their memories are honoured. The families of those left behind live comfortable than normal lives. Because those that died have laid down their lives to ensure that they never need fight.

"For all your talk of bravery, honour and courage under fire," Arbok said, sarcastically. "You still have the same problems that everyone else seems to upon battling Poké Rangers. AKA, some extremely bad luck."

"You ever thought about sacrificing those principles?" Arbok asked. "Just out of interest. Throwing them out all together and taking the planet by sheer brutal force?"

"To win without honour," Stegatrix said. "Is no victory at all."

* * *

"Okay, wow," Alex remarked. "So, you're from more or less the same time as me. Maybe a few years later. I got frozen accidentally and wound up where I am now."

"It's an interesting story," Anna said. "This region is a big place though. How are you going to track down one little item in it?"

"Maybe you can modify the scanners," Xavier asked. "Alter them to narrow down the areas where the energy signature might be strongest."

"Scanners?" Miborg replied, giving him a blank look. "What are you...?"

"We don't really have "scanners", per se, but I imagine that our satellite would do the trick," Anna offered, as Miborg quickly tapped away on a keyboard.

"You have your own satellite!" Ryan asked, surprised. "Where did you...?"

"Of course. Don't you?" Miborg asked, turning from his screen briefly. "Huh?"

"Actually..." Luke began to say, the rest of the rangers staring at Miborg until he continued what he had been about to say. "... Never mind."

"I'll just need to set it up to detect the specific energy signature..."

"I can help with that," Nahir offered, stepping forward. "It's no problem."

"Think we'll have to take all the help that we can get right now," Katie said. "If you can do it, go for it."

"It should just take but a few minutes," Miborg answered. "Plus I need to get the Zords back into storage. They're damaged, but not severely. It shouldn't take too long to repair them, I'll get right on it when I have a chance."

"Our Zords are self repairing," Duo commented. "Seen as how they're a part of us. We just keep them as a part of us, and..."

"The Zords that you transform into?" Alex asked. "Which is pretty cool. You don't have the problem of having giant robots that you need to hide. Does it hurt when you morph into them?"

"A little," Nahir said. "But not a lot. It's... Strange. Really really strange."

"You can't really describe it," Xavier offered. "It's a..."

"Anyone else think it's patently obvious that we can't describe the sensation?" Luke asked. "Because..."

"Never mind it," Anna said. "It's really not something that matters."

* * *

"Kyle?"

"Yeah," the red ranger asked, struggling against the thick chains. All five of them had been tied up into a group, none of them able to really break free of the constraints. At some point, they had demorphed, and were currently back in their costumes that they had intended to wear to Golden Youths. Looking around their surroundings, they could see a small black box on the floor of what appeared to be a cave. A brisk humming sound emerging out from within it, the sound somehow disturbing. "What's up?"

"Tell me you've got a plan," Nanene said. "Because... Well, I think we're in trouble this time."

Even as she spoke, Ritchie started to stir from his unconscious state, the green ranger slowly opening up his eyes.

"Aww, man," he complained. "That hurt. Good thing my helmet took most of the blow. Killer headache though. Where are we?"

"Wish I knew," Rei said. "I'd take bets on it being somewhere on Dinos."

"Ah, we've been in worse binds than this," James offered, confidently. "It's just like the time I got trapped in the lift in the Radio Tower on my first day."

"Did that story end with you getting eaten by Dinosians?" Rei asked, with clear interest. "Because unless that happened... It's not the same."

"To be honest, I think that might be an exaggeration," Ritchie said, still a bit groggy from the knock he had taken to the head. "I don't think they're likely to eat us."

"There you go," Kyle replied, sounding relieved. "Small mercies."

"Worse case scenario," Ritchie continued, dryly. "We get dragged out, beaten to a pulp and then dumped back onto Earth. Or eaten."

"What's your best case one?" James asked. "I don't like that option."

"Best case scenario... The reverse," Rei said, sarcastically. "We get let go, given candy and dance our way back to Earth."

"Now, you're just not helping," Nanene commented.

"Don't know about anyone else," Ritchie said, looking at the chains. "But, rather than a pirate, I wish I'd decided to go as the Silver Scizor. Cut through these things. Snap them, whatever."

"Whatever," Kyle remarked. "Let's just morph and break out of here. Get back to Earth and swear bloody revenge."

"You're joking, right?" Rei asked, gripping her glove. "Because that always goes well."

"AncientPower!"

Nothing happened. Nothing at all.

"Awww, crap," James said, dropping his head back. "What the...?"

* * *

"So, yeah," the dark skinned teenager on the screen said, looking up at the rangers. Adjusting his glasses as he spoke. "That should do it in theory. And a theory is about all that I can offer you right about now. Not actually being there. I would get the Magnet Train over and help you out. But, it's nothing that you need me for."

"Thanks, Greg," Anna called, waving at him. "Nice to see you again."

"How's Whitney, anyway?" Greg asked. "I heard what happened. I'm going to take it that the thing that was reported in the news wasn't the truth."

"Not even close," Alex said. "She's fine though."

"She's currently en route to spending some well earned rest and recovery at her cousin's farm," Anna said. "Ironically as we said we could hold the fort."

"At least it wasn't worse," Greg replied. "Anyway, glad I could help your problems. The seeds of panic are starting to bud across the regions because the majority of the rangers were captured. It looks like it could turn ugly at any moment here in Saffron, but it's being played down. Whatever you're going to try, I suggest you hurry."

"You've been helpful, Greg," Anna said. "Thanks."

"Like I said, no problem."

"See you at some point soon."

"Tell Ritchie his parents say hello," Greg replied. "Good luck with what you've got to do."

"Bye," Alex said, as the picture on the screen faded.

"Interesting person," Paige replied. "Who is he? Other than a genius Silph worker?"

"His name is Greg Simpson," Miborg offered. "He used to be a ranger here. Now, he's retired and works for Silph."

"What colour was he?" Katie asked. "Just out of interest?"

"He wore blue," Anna said. "I was part of the same team. Sorry, teams. I was in two."

"So were all of us," Duo replied. "Apart from Ryan."

"Yeah, but I'm still just as good as the rest of you," the green ranger said. "So... Let me guess at what colour you were, Anna..."

For a moment, he paused. Running his hand up and down his chin, the green ranger found himself interrupted.

"I'm betting pink," Nahir said. "You've got that look."

"Yeah, right," Ryan snorted. "I can see you as a yellow ranger."

"The yellow ranger in my family is my sister," Anna replied. "I was pink. The Neo team. I was pink. Rei was yellow. Greg was blue..."

"And Kris and Kurtis," Miborg said. "Red and green."

"Heh, same colours as our first team," Luke said. "But, we've all..."

"I was pink in the original team in Johto as well," Anna continued. "Ah... Hey, Duo. You're from Goldenrod City right? In the past?"

"Yeah," the black ranger replied. "What about it? Why do you want to know?"

"Two of the rangers in that Johto team were from your time," she said. "And lived in this very city. The names Eddie Barinholtz or Sabrina Mason mean anything to you?"

"Nah, not really," Duo replied. "But, it's a big city. A really big city. Just because I haven't heard of them doesn't make them any less real. And, you never know. I may bump into one or both of them at some point in the future. Or the past. Or whenever."

"Well, just to point it out," Miborg called. "I do have the locks of Genesis energy narrowed down. Six possible areas. The Illex Forest. Ice Path. Mount Mortar. Whirl Islands. The Safari Zone and Dark Cave. It's definitely in one of those areas. Which one, I have no idea. This is just the six points where the energy is the strongest."

"Guess we better split up and check them out then," Katie said. "Alex, you and Miborg wait here. We know what we're looking for. If the monsters attack again, you'll be able to get at them."

"Right," Alex replied. "If it's your choice, then..."

"Duo, check out Dark Cave," Katie said. "Luke, you and Nahir go to the Safari Zone. Xavier, Whirl Islands. Ryan, you take the forest, Paige, you go for the Ice Path and I'll go for Mount Mortar. Any questions?"

Right on cue, Duo stuck his hand up.

"Can I swap with someone else?" he asked. "I don't really like the idea of moving through the darkness alone with the Zubat."

"Pretend to be a Pikachu," Nahir offered. "That usually works."

"What, you think I can automatically imitate a Pikachu enough to scare off Zubat?" Duo asked. "Honestly..."

"Go invisible," Katie ordered. "If it's that much bother for you. If there's nothing else... Let's get to work."

* * *

"That worked out great, huh?" Arbok said, looking over to Oday. "A great way of getting a message the message out."

"Well, originally we could contact them directly," the Dinosian leader replied. "But, they blocked us off. Now, we just have to wait for them to do our work for us, hoping that they bought our bluff."

"So, we are bluffing?"

"That is correct," Oday said. "It would be impractical to keep them moving around. Very impractical. Your inhibitor was an excellent innovation to stop them from morphing. That chain is practically unbreakable, even with their 'Dino Muscle enhancements'. They're not going anywhere."

"Convincing threats," Arbok remarked. "I like that idea. See, when we try them in the past, people just laugh it off. And on the morphing inhibitor, it was nothing. Some of our Dogbots are equipped with the technology. It's just more or less useless against our current enemies because they built their morphers to be immune to it."

"It needs to be carried off with quite a threatening demeanour."

"That's where we're going wrong then," Arbok laughed, Oday even managing to crack a smile for a moment. Before returning to his normal expression.

"Dismissed," he said. "I don't think there's anything more that we need to discuss right now."

* * *

"So, at this point in the future, Johto still has a Safari Zone," Nahir said, looking around the area. "Interesting."

"Thought you wouldn't care about it," Luke remarked. "Given what you really feel about the art of battling Pokémon."

"I still enjoy seeing them in their natural habitat," the yellow ranger protested. "What kind of 'loudmouth city boy' wouldn't?"

Rolling his eyes at the sarcastic inflection on the trio of words that she'd airquoted, Luke turned away to look over the horizon for signs of life. Other than a few Rhyhorn and Dodrio, there wasn't really much else to see.

"Right, where do we start?"

* * *

"Brrr..." Paige shivered, adjusting her sweater as she continued her walk through the Ice Path. "This place is colder than I remember. Although, it was over a century ago since I came through here."

Shaking her head at her own lame joke, the white ranger carried on through, trying to move as best she could across the icy sheet that the floor was. Every step a possible slip, every movement a trip waiting to happen.

"Well, at least it's not dark," she said, before half tripping over on the ice. Throwing out an arm to steady herself against a rock, Paige managed to stay upright. Only her right shin making contact with the ice, another shiver escaping from her mouth as she felt the frigid temperature on her bare skin.

"This might take a while."

* * *

"Typical," Xavier commented, shielding his ears from the roar of the whirlpools outside. The further he moved inside the cave, the fainter they became, his only source of light being his Blaziken next to him. "Blue ranger gets the place in the middle of the ocean. Oh well, it could have been that place in Hoenn. The thing under the ocean. Which is a relief."

"Blazi..." the Blaziken next to him agreed, nodding his head. The damp annoying the Pokémon a little bit, especially as he stomped into a puddle of salt water. As Xavier shrugged in apology, the fire type gave him a look that almost appeared to be asking him why he hadn't brought a Pokémon knowing Flash along with him.

"Oh come on," Xavier said, patting his starter Pokémon on the thigh. "It'll probably get better as we get further in."

Letting out a sarcastic snort, Blaziken started to quicken his pace. In the opposite direction to where his trainer was wanting to go.

"This day keeps getting better. At least there are people out there probably having a worse one than me."

* * *

"All for the sake of keeping up appearances," Rei said, shaking her head. "That's the reason that you insisted we go off to fight Brutus alone? You've got an ego problem with trying to impress other rangers."

"That's not technically true," Kyle protested. Loudly at first, before dipping into a sarcastic tone. "But, think about it. There's rangers from the past here and from a different region. Don't want to give off the image that we're wusses."

"I don't believe you'd do that," Ritchie said. "It would make sense if you did, but I don't think that was your intentional plan. Plus, since you don't really care what anyone thinks of you..."

"Thank you!" Kyle replied, silence reigning for a moment, before the black ranger spoke up to break it.

"Well, not looking like a wuss was a good outcome. Apart from the being captured part," James remarked. "But... Seriously, Kyle. What were you thinking? Alex always comes along on this sort of fight."

"If Alex had come along," Nanene said. "Then we wouldn't be in this situation."

"No, you're right," Kyle replied, scathingly. "He'd be with us. Okay, I plead temporary insanity. It was a bad decision, and I honestly say I thought that we could take him. And I mean, come on. We were winning, weren't we? Plus, it's not my fault that the morphers aren't working."

"No, we were matching him," Rei retorted. "Blow for blow. He was obviously a tough Dinosian. Come to think of it, for something that's obviously a fighting type, wonder how come the TM program didn't work."

"Maybe there was some steel type in there," Ritchie offered. "I mean, it would make sense. Plus, there is one thing. I'm sure that everyone else is doing their best to try and get us out of here."

"So, we've gone from being eaten to being rescued. I'm liking your outlook on the future, Ritch," James said.

"Don't call me that. Ever."

* * *

Throwing out a Shadow Punch attack, the Dusclops sent the Golbat crashing against the wall of the cave, the bat-like Pokémon letting out a screech as it slumped to the ground and fainted.

"That's a warning," Duo shouted. "Any more of you have a crack and that'll happen. Right, Dusclops?"

"And, if you get past Dusclops, I'll sic Feraligatr on you. And if you get past Feraligatr, I'll use Eevee. And if you get past Eevee, I'll turn invisible and throw rocks at you."

When no sound came from the darkness around him, the black ranger let out a sigh of relief.

"Smart creatures," he said. "Now, has anyone seen an artefact around here?"

Even as he finished speaking, the Dusclops gave him a strange look.

"Might as well ask, right?"

* * *

Inside Mount Mortar, Katie's Vaporeon had been scouring one of the many pools of water, just in case. Her trainer scouring the shores in the semi-lit areas given off by her Flash-knowing Ludicolo.

"Any luck, Vaporeon?" she called, looking over to where she could see the water type Pokémon's head above the surface for a moment. "You find anything?"

Mewling in the negative, Vaporeon dived back under the water. Seconds before the red ranger heard the sound of voices in the cave ahead of her.

"Hi ho. Hi ho. It's exploring we will do."

"Hi ho. Hi ho. Yes that's where we'll go."

"Hi ho. Hi hi... Crap."

"Darn, you forgot your words again," the second voice said. "It keeps on happening."

"What is it about that mental block? This is annoying!" the first voice complained. "I suppose it runs in your family."  
"Nu-uh. More like in your family. Was it your grandfather who used to screw up his words when out hiking."

"Hey, your grandfather was a hiker as well. Don't use it like an insult!"

Listening in on the conversation, Katie was astounded when two vaguely familiar looking Hikers wandered into view in front of her.

"Mal?" she asked. "Tim?"

"What?" the first Hiker asked, glaring at her. "You are speaking to us?"

"Who are this Mal and Tim?" the second Hiker demanded. "I am Timothy."

"And I am Malcolm."

"And together, we are Timothy and Malcolm. Singing Hikers extraordinaire."

"But, my grandfather was called that," Timothy said, proudly. "I'm from a long tradition of Hikers. Well, grandfather and great grandfather were. Dad was an accountant."

"When was your grandfather called Timothy and Malcolm?" Malcolm asked. "Because, that's just weird."

"No, he was called Tim, you prat," Timothy snapped. "Come to think of it, I might be named after him."

"I'm almost certain I'm named after my grandfather," Malcolm said. "Good ol' grandad Mal."

"Ri-i-i-ight," Katie replied, taking a step back. "Well, if you'll excuse me."

"Ho!" Timothy shouted. "You're a trainer. We have to challenge you to a battle. It's the way the game goes."

"Ri-i-i-ght," Katie said, before shaking her head. I'm going to stop saying that shortly. Before it becomes a catchphrase, she thought, eyeing up Timothy and Malcolm. If these two are anything like their grandparents, how tough can they be?"

"Go, Machamp!" Malcolm shouted.

"Go, Golem!" Timothy yelled, as the two of them hurled out Poké Balls, sending the two Pokémon into battle. The red ranger immediately struck by how old the two of them looked to be.

"You didn't inherit those from your grandparents, did you?" she smirked, before bringing out two Poké Balls of her own. "Gyarados, Swampert! Now!"

* * *

"So, how come you guys all got to Golden Youths before us this morning?" Nanene asked. "Since we're trying to while away the time. We were running a bit late, so..."

"Well, we were all going to meet up there, right," Rei said. "You and Ritchie were predictably going to come together. I bumped into Kyle on my way in, and we happened across Alex."

"I would have come with Alex," James remarked. "But, I had to nip over to the Radio Tower for something that I left there."

"What did you leave there?" Ritchie asked. "Just out of interest?"

"My hat," the black ranger said. "I was wearing it on air yesterday..."

"It's true, he was," Rei interrupted. "Yesterday's text topic. Your favourite hats in films, TV shows and popular literature."

"You only wore a hat today because you got the idea from me," Kyle muttered. "Idea thief."

"Well, I would have given you guys a call and told you we were running late," Nanene said. "But since that damn Scizor and the phone had a bit of a coming together..."

"Hey, don't blame Sickle for that," Ritchie protested. "Well, when we got there, we found James coming out and he told us to come over to BoO."

"I suppose that's another forty seconds towards either being eaten, let go or rescued," Kyle said, tugging at the rope. "Or... Come on. We're Poké Rangers. Can we really not negotiate these chains? Our powers might not be working, but..."

"It's not an ordinary set of chains," Rei replied. "I already tried breaking them."

"Yeah, me too," James remarked. "No luck."

* * *

Wondering how everyone else was going on, Ryan found himself in the middle of the Illex Forest. Not too far from where Celebi had brought him and the others earlier. The thought of the time travelling Pokémon happening a thought into his head.

Let's see... If I was a Celebi and I had a powerful artefact like the Natural Gift in my grasp. Where would I hide it? Would I hide it somewhere it wouldn't be found by anyone, and I'd struggle to recover it later. Assuming I don't know my memory is about to be wiped. Or would I move it somewhere familiar to me, but probably still obscure enough for even the most search hardened treasure hunter to miss it.

It was as he looked up, that he saw the shrine. The shrine to the protector of the forest.

Oh, I am so going to hell for this, he thought, moving towards it. I just hope nobody walks across me defiling the sacred area around the shrine. I don't really want to spend the rest of my time here in jail.

Even as he dropped to his knees to start and scoop the earth up, he stopped mid motion to laugh.

"I don't need to do that," he said, patting the grassy surface below him. A faint green energy passing out onto the ground, seconds before it separated away, parting like an ocean...

And right there, in the middle of the created hole, was a brown and green artefact, roughly about the size of a lens for a set of glasses. Moving his hand towards it, the green ranger picked it up. Immediately seeing it glow slightly, before he closed his hand around it.

"Oh yes!" he yelled, punching the air. "Have it!"

* * *

Using their psychic energy to see what was going on, Stegatrix and Oday looked to each other, both in surprise.

"That's what they're looking for?" Oday asked. "Not very impressive."

"It obviously has value to them," Stegatrix remarked. "And if it's valuable to them, then it might be something we can use."

"Those three aren't going to let us get away with it," Oday said. "It has to be done as subtle as possible. They have power of their own. In battle, we could overwhelm them. But, many Dinosians might be defeated in the protest. The one that calls himself Dennis... There's something about him. He's tough. Not to be underestimated. Balzan is just about crazy enough to try and take as many of us with him as possible. Arbok... Shame. He's the least detestable of the three."

"You like him, don't you?" Stegatrix asked, smirking slightly. "Heh."

"Compared to the other two, I could accept him," Oday replied. "But, it's not going to happen. How best can we get rid of them?"

"Well," Stegatrix replied. "I do have a plan how we might be able to whittle them down. And get them at their weakest."

"And what might that be?"

As Stegatrix told him, Oday couldn't help but let out a roar of laughter at the plan. Almost wiping away a tear of mirth from the corner of his eye.

"If that comes off," he said. "Then we'll have done well."

"And all we have to do is hold up our end of the bargain," Stegatrix smirked. "But, there is another thing. In order to pull this off, we need to ensure that those other rangers don't end up with the upper hand in the exchange."

"Use Brutus again," Oday said. "Send him as far away from Mount Silver as possible. See if those buffoons will deploy Balzan again. That should weaken them slightly. Enabling us to keep some control of the situation."

* * *

"Nice to see that one of us got it," Luke remarked, glancing down at the artefact. "See, I knew that one of us would."

"Thing I don't get," Paige said. "How come the energy readings were strongest in those six areas, when..."

"That's something we'll never know," Xavier remarked. "It's one of those things. Maybe when he brought it back here to hide, Celebi took it around several areas first while debating where to hide it. It would explain it, but it's grasping at straws."

"Hard to believe that's what all the trouble is about," Alex commented, shaking his head at the sight of the item. "It's... A bit unimpressive."

"Like the Holy Grail," Nahir said. "It's always the thing you suspect the least."

"Amen to that," Duo quipped, before the alarms in BoO started to ring out. Video images rushing up onto the screens of the source of the problem.

"Well, this is obviously a distraction," Alex said, looking at the attacking threats on the screen. The sight of Brutus and Balzan quickly showing that they were attacking a city somewhere in the region.

"They've sent those things to Olivine City," Miborg remarked. "They must know that we've got the artefact..."

"And they're attacking to draw us away and out," Duo said. "So we can't go to Mount Silver with the artefact in full force."

"You take your Zords to fight them," Miborg spoke up. "I'll get the others back. Alex, I'll send your Zords to meet up with you on contact."

"We do," Katie replied. "Guess we'll go and take these things down."

"Let's go," Xavier said, as the seven rangers brought their wrist morphers up to activate.

"Genesis Overload!"

"Project Alpha!" Alex shouted, his own morpher exploding into life. "Initiate!"

* * *

"There they are!" Katie yelled, looking up at the two giant shapes above them. "One big stupid Dinosian and one demented mutant."

"Dibs on the Dinosian," Alex said. "This one's personal."

"Fine," Paige replied. "We'll get Balzan. Let's do it."

Taking a step forward, she took up a stance and began to glow with a white light.

"Double Team!" the female white ranger yelled, her body shifting out into three separate entities. Alex watching with interest at the sight of what the other white ranger was about to do.

"North Wind Megazord!"

At the command, the three figures grew, before transforming, the replicants into a Froslass and a Dewgong, while the original white ranger transformed into a Glaceon. Next, the three giant Pokémon shifted into robot forms and began to move into formation. The Froslass rotating upside down, its head shifting up to form feet, before it split in half. The bottom part of the Zord rising up to connect to the bottom of the Glaceon whose front limbs rose out in front of it to form some chest armour. The rear legs joining with the tip of the split Froslass. The Glaceon's head rose up to form the head of the Megazord, while the Dewgong split in half down the middle. The upper body and head going to form the left arm, while the bottom half of the body and the tail moved to the right arm.

"Cool," Alex said. "Fossil Ore Megazord! Now!"

At his command, twin giant shapes of a Bastiodon and a Rampardos came tearing out over the horizon. Quickly forming together into a Megazord made from the parts of the two. The bulk of the torso was made from the Rampardos, althogh there were some Bastiodon parts there. There was a diamond in the middle of the stomach, raised slightly up off the metal. The top part of the legs were made from the Rampardos legs, the feet had folded back into the rear of the legs. The lower parts of the legs were from the Bastiodon's feet. There were spikes on it. The shoulders were from the top of Bastiodon, the other two legs making up the arms and the hands, the ends extending out. The head appeared from inside Rampardos, more spikes appearing on the face while it only had one large eye. The cockpit directly behind it.

"Come on!" Alex said, settling into his seat. "Make my day."

"Guess we're up," Luke remarked, looking around to the other rangers. "Let's go for it."

"Time to transform!" the six Genesis rangers shouted, all morphing into their giant Eevee forms. Staying that way until Katie started to give a secondary order.

"Overload Zords! Megazord formation!"

Under the command, the six Zords turned into their robot forms and began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbs and tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. Standing up, it took up a fighting stance.

"Brutus smash!" Brutus roared, making to go for the Fossil Ore Megazord. His steps huge and lumbering as he moved across the ground, Alex quickly directed the Megazord into dodging the cumbersome moves before retaliating with a punch to the back of his head. All while Brutus was trying to go back for some more retaliation.

"Hey come back here!" the Dinosian complained. "Brutus wants to pound you!"

"Keep trying," Alex said, managing to dodge another round of furious blows hurled towards the Fossil Ore Megazord. "You put this machine in my hands and I'll make it dance."

Hitting buttons in front of him, the Rampardos head appeared in the hands of the Megazord, a handle emerging out of the base of it. Sweeping the weapon through the air, it made contact with the back of Brutus' head, a whimper of pain emerging out from the Dinosian's mouth. All while this was going on, the other two Megazords were fighting Balzan...

* * *

Appearing outside Mount Silver, Miborg found himself looking around the area. Trying to see any sign of life, which other than a wandering Donphan, wasn't forthcoming. Opening up the rag, he held the Natural Gift up to the sky. Subconsciously wondering if the Dinosians were watching, he brought it down for a second...

And heard applause behind him. Stegatrix moving across the grass, his clawed hands beating together in rapid fashion. Behind him, several Zargons were marching after him, all salivating rapidly at the thought of battle.

"Bravo," he said. "The artefact. How convenient that you could find it so easily."

"Here it is," Miborg said, quickly moving it back into view. "But, you're not getting it until..."

"We no longer have any need for the other rangers," Stegatrix replied, clapping his hands again. The bound forms of Kyle, Rei, Ritchie, Nanene and James quickly appearing from out of nowhere behind him. "Now, hand it over and..."

"Miborg, don't do it!" Ritchie shouted. "Are you completely insane?"

Ignoring the green ranger, the cybernetic Mr. Mime hurled the Natural Gift away to the left. A Zargon instantly scampering over to snatch it up. No sooner had it grabbed the item up, Stegatrix let out a sinister smile, before tossing a key to the ground in front of him. With no other words, the group of Dinosians vanished. Just leaving Miborg and the bound rangers alone.

"That went well," Kyle commented, the sarcasm easily audible to everyone present. "What's next? Advertise our secret identities on the Internet?"

"You're welcome," Miborg said, moving over to start the process of removing the chains with the key that Stegatrix had tossed down. "What's your point?"

"Just that since we're on a roll of making insane decisions."

* * *

"I'll slice you!" Balzan howled, raking his claws across the body of the Overload Megazord. The blades biting away through the metal, gashes remaining within the structure of the machine as he brought them back to have a go at the North Wind Megazord. "Slice you all! You can't beat me!"

"That's what they all say," Nahir commented. "Right, guys?"

"You're not joking," Ryan said. "Think we should hit him where it hurts."

"Ground type," Xavier remarked. "So, we should go either Solar Beam or Hydro Pump. Personally, I'm going to plump for the latter, but..."

"Genesis Blaster!" Katie yelled, giving the command. The Megazord going to retrieve the weapon from the compartment in the Vaporeon leg, bringing it up to aim. "Solar Beam!"

At her order, the powerfully illuminating beam of energy erupted from the barrel. Hitting Balzan square in the stomach, the force of the blast knocked him back slightly. Without giving him time to recover, the North Wind Megazord strode forward, bringing the Dewgong tail arm up to aim.

"Wind Blaster!" Paige commanded, the tail starting to spin around at her order. Within moments, it sent a frigid blast of wind through the air, the harsh rake causing even more damage to the mutant. Staggering back even further, he found himself back alongside Brutus, the Dinosian complaining at the interruption.

"Hey, don't sneak up on Brutus," he complained. "What gives?"

"Quiet, fool," Balzan retorted, rubbing at his wounds. "This better be worth it. Or somebody's getting a slice..."

Amidst the squabbling of the two threats, the three Megazords had met back up into a group, all now aiming their weapons at the twin opponents.

"Maybe they'll kill each other," Luke said. "But, just in case..."

"Let's give them a hand," Duo remarked. "You guys ready?"

"Sounds like a plan," Paige called. "Just charging up again for another attack."

"Activiating the TM Program," Alex said. "Let's see if they can handle this."

Finally having noticed the weapons aimed them, both Brutus and Balzan looked at each other. Their uneasy alliance already stretched to the limit, neither of them were too wiling to face the equivalent of a firing squad here.

"Activating TM 15," Alex ordered, the Rampardos head starting to glow with orange energy. "Hyper Beam!"

"Sheer Cold!" Paige yelled, activating the commands on her Megazord. The mouth of the machine opening up, ready for action.

"Genesis Blaster!" the six rangers in the cockpit of the Overload Megazord yelled. "Hyper Beam!"

As the three commands rang out, the attacks soon followed. Two bright orange streams of howling energy, mixed in with a howling gale of ice cold wind. Even as they were heading straight for the two of them, Balzan stepped forward.

"Protect the slicer!" he roared, erecting a shield up in front of him. And part of Brutus, as the three powerful attacks smashed against the barrier. The full force of the blast absorbed by the Protect attack, Balzan couldn't help but let out another burst of psychotic laughter as he made to race forward and attack again.

"You can't stop me that easily," he howled, much to the shock of the eight rangers.

"No way!" Ryan shouted. "How did..."

Before he could get close to them, Brutus' arms moved out, grabbing him by the neck. The brute strength of the Dinosian enough to stop his movement mid motion.

"What are you doing?" Balzan screamed. "Let me at them!"

"Leader says in head to come back," Brutus replied, simply. "Now."

"This isn't over!" the mutant screeched, as the two of them vanished.

"That's one psychopathic critter," Alex commented. "Wonder what his issue is."

"Whatever it might be," Katie said. "This is starting to get tired now. Next time we see those two, we're destroying them."

"I'll drink to that," Paige remarked. "Think we should head back to BoO and see what's happening?"

"Sounds like a decent plan," Alex replied. "Let's go."

* * *

"You guys are back!" Alex yelled, running down the stairs into underground room. "Whew."

"Good to see you all again," Katie offered, coming out into BoO. The rest of the Genesis Rangers following their leader, as they saw the rescued rangers waiting for them. "And you'll be pleased to hear the distraction is no more. Although we couldn't destroy Brutus or Balzan, we managed to drive them both away."

"But, they have that artefact that Miborg was telling us about," Nanene said, bitterly. "Honestly, we were just on the verge of escaping as well. Why did you all have to make that choice."

"We saved you the trouble," Duo replied. "So... You're welcome."

"We're not ungrateful," Ritchie offered. "The thing we just need to work out is how we're going to get it back. They seem desperate to get it, it's obviously not a good thing to let them keep it."

"That's something I might be abe to help with," Miborg said, quietly. "Once we had it... I might have scanned it into the system. We can track the Natural Gift with the satellite, find out where it ends up and get it back."

"That's why you were so quick to agree to the plan," Luke said, his eyes lighting up. "Clever... Mime?"

"Sounds about right," the cybernetic replied. "And, our survey says..."

Stepping aside, he revealed a large map of Johto. A blinking light showing where the artefact was on screen.

"Mount Mortar?" James asked. "Seems a strange choice."

"We don't know what's happening there," Paige said. "But, either way, I think we should go and check."

"Sounds like a plan," Kyle replied, grinning at her. "Let's get this done."

"Go get them," Anna said, from the back of the group. "Go do what you guys do best."

* * *

"I don't get why we're here?" Dennis grumbled, looking around the grassland outside Mount Mortar. "Why did you...?"

"Wanted to give you the artefact in person," Stegatrix replied, calmly. "Now that you have it, you can head back to the past."

"Excellent," Arbok said. "Well..."

"It took us a while to get here from your planet," Dennis complained. "You've been stood here all this time? Why?"

"Because..."

"Hold it right there!"

Audibly groaning in frustration, Dennis turned to see the fourteen unmorphed rangers heading towards the three of them.

"This is why it was a bad idea," Arbok said. "They undoubtedly followed the signal from that artefact over here."

"You don't say," Stegatrix replied, with mock surprise. Something that was enough to fool Dennis, although Arbok gave him a strange look. "Fear not, we have arranged for this contingency."

Clapping his hands together, a huge swarm of beings erupted into view from out of nowhere. Blocking the rangers from sight.

"Well, if you need an army..." Rei said, looking out at the sight of the army in front of the fourteen of them. Along with Dennis, Arbok and Stegatrix, they could see a whole multitude of forces, Zaroids and Zargons, mixed in with Dog and Doombots. Completing the army were Brutus and Balzen. "That's a pretty good one."

"You're kidding, right?" Luke asked. "Dogbots are nothing."

"It's not the Dogbots that I'm worried about," Alex offered. "Those Zargons look pretty tough."

"We're tougher," Nahir remarked. "We can't afford to lose."

"That's true," Dennis taunted. "You can't."

"So, I guess that you have to ask yourselves if you're ready for the fight of your lives," Stegatrix demanded. "Because..."

"We were born ready! You made a mistake messing with all fourteen of us!" Kyle said, the group of rangers glaring at their enemies as one. "It's time to get even."

"And payback is a bitch!" Katie exclaimed. The Dino Force rangers gasping in shock at the comment. "What?"

"Never mind," Ritchie said, brushing it off as the five original rangers brought their morphers up and shouted out as one.

"AncientPower!"

At the command, all give of them morphed into their ranger suits. Red, yellow, green, black and blue. Next, Miborg stepped forward, waving his left hand, he brought his right hand up around in front of him. A small circular blue plate with a psychic looking eye in the middle appeared in front of him.

"It's Morphin' Mime!"

Miborg instantly pushed the disc forward, before it started to glow. His suit appeared across his body, followed closely by the helmet.

The Mime ranger's costume was primarily pink in the upper body, and designed after a Mr. Mime. There were a pair of blue horns at the top, along with a black rectangular visor and white mouthpiece. There were black shoulder pads, as well as while gloves on them. In the middle of his costume, there was a raised, hard bump, the top half of the outline white, while the bottom half was black. Below that, there were two lines, the above one black and the below one white. The belt was brown with a pink psychic type eye in the middle. The legs were white with black triangles on, while the boots were also pink.

Alex was up next, activating the morpher on his wrist. Pushing down on the various buttons, he yelled out his own morphing call.

"Project Alpha! Initiate!"

Within moments, he was in his white ranger suit, taking up a fighting stance. Even as he was doing so, Katie, Duo, Xavier, Ryan, Nahir, Luke and Paige brought their own wrist morphers up to activate.

"Genesis Overload!"

Finishing transforming into their costumes, the fourteen rangers all took up fighting stances.

"We're taking that artefact back!" Duo shouted. "By force!"

"Oh really?" Dennis asked, holding the Natural Gift up for all to see. "You'll have to get to it first."

"That can be arranged," James said. "Let's do this!"

"Attack!" Stegatrix roared. "Now!"

At his orders, the charge came. Virtually all foot soldiers racing towards the rangers.

* * *

Duo and James were up first. The two black rangers surrounded by the first wave of attacks, they quickly moved to defend themselves. Getting braver than those around it, a Dogbot rushed in to attack, sending a barrage of embers towards the two black ranger. Both of them leaped aside to evade it, James going to kick the Dogbot several times in the stomach before taking its head off with a roundhouse kick.

"Is that how you beat these things?" he asked, watching Duo knock a Zaroid down. "Kick their heads off?"

"More or less," Duo replied, back kicking another Dogbot away from him. Holding out his hand, he brought out the Shadow Sabre, spinning to separate its head from its body.

"Cool sword," James said, bringing out his Slash Baton. "Think my weapon might be..."

"Get down!" Duo shouted, running towards James. The black Dino Ranger instantly dropped down onto his stomach, Duo leaping over him to fight against a Zargon. Jumping up, James struck out twice with his Slash Baton, using the blade to take out a pair of Zaroids. Across from him, Duo was hit by the Zargon, the creature hissing at him as the black Genesis Ranger used his sword to steady himself.

"Now, you're asking for it!" he roared, his Shadow Sabre starting to glow with black energy. Bringing it forward, he sent the full force of the blade smashing against the Zargon...

"Night Slash!"

... The powerful dark type attack instantly destroying the creature, its remains hitting the ground within split seconds of the explosion.

"Once you've gone black, you're not coming back," Duo quipped.

* * *

Across from them, Ryan and Ritchie were fighting Doombots. The upgraded robotic soldiers all around them, the two green rangers able to hold their own in combat.

"Slash Baton!" Ritchie shouted, his weapon appearing in his hand. Slashing out with it, he hit one of the Doombots in the stomach, the blade leaving deep cuts in its stomach. As the robotic soldier staggered back, Ryan leaped in and hit out with a flying kick against the mangled armour. That Doombot falling to the ground, another one came in and threw a punch out at Ritchie, the green Dino Ranger was sent flying back through the air by the force of the blow, landing several feet away. Barely seconds later, the other Doombot was haring after him. Dodging another Night Slash, Ryan brought out his own weapon, the Fauna Hammer and blocked a third attack in succession. Growling at the brief sensation that ran through its knuckles, the Doombot hurled another flurry of strikes towards the green Genesis Ranger. Three of them blocked, the fourth was enough to hurl Ryan up into the air, his Fauna Hammer glowing with a bright green energy as he came falling back down towards the ground.

"Frenzy Plant!"

With the full force of the hammer smashing into the ground, the result was several large thorny vines erupting out from the dirt. All of them combining their power to throw back the surrounding robots and send them shattering into metallic parts.

"Interesting attack," Ritchie remarked. A split second before he was charged from behind by another Doombot.

* * *

Next, Nahir and Rei were facing off against a multitude of Zaroids and Zargons. The group of frenzied lizards racing in to surround the two yellow rangers, they quickly went back to back to avoid been taken from behind.

"You ever done this many before?" Nahir asked, kicking one back that charged towards her. The Zaroid hissing in pain at the boot shaped mark on its face, the agony completed when she brought out her Genesis Blaster to finish him off. Yellow beams of energy disintegrating the creature completely from sight.

"Possibly," Rei replied, calmly summoning her Slash Baton out of nowhere and hacking back a Zargon who growled at her for the wound she had inflicted into its shoulder. "You?"

"Definitely," the other yellow ranger said. "Shadow World. Long story."

"The what?" Rei asked, hitting out at the Zargon with her weapon again. This time, not giving him a reprieve, she followed up with a flurry of strikes. Each one struck with as much force as she could deal out, the battered Zargon finally going down in a heap. Across from her, Nahir was surrounded by several Zaroids, each of the slavering creatures gazing hungrily at her.

"Oh come on!" she said, holding out her hand. "Storm Staff!"

The weapon appearing, she used it to spring herself into the air, kicking another one of the Zaroids in the face. As it snarled out in anger, she landed on the ground in front of it, her Staff following her through the air and smashing into its head. This time howling in agony, the Zaroid was hurled through by the blow, hitting a tree way back in the distance. Close to where Dennis, Arbok and Stegatrix were watching. Pushing it back, Nahir spun her weapon around to force the group of Zaroids away from her, the slathering creatures holding back. In that moment, the yellow Genesis Ranger slammed it into the ground, electricity shooting out from the point of impact to electrocute the group of Dinosian pets.

"Take your time in Discharge," she quipped, watching them tremble as they hit the ground. Not caring about the Zaroids, the other remaining Zargon, not the one that had taken up Rei, came trampling towards her. Her Staff glowing with electricity as she swung it out to greet him.

"Spark Strike!"

Hitting out twice, the attack was enough to throw the Zaroid back, the creature exploding on contact with the ground.

"He should have known better than to mess with yellow rangers," Rei said. "Because we're awesome."

"Amen to that."

* * *

"These things aren't so hard," Kyle crowed, picking a Dogbot up with his Slash Baton and hurling it up into the air. As it came back down, he hit it with a roundhouse kick that threw it back through the crowd, knocking several Zaroids over in the distance. "Just like ten pin bowling."

"There's an art to it," Katie commented, glancing around to the Dogbots surrounding the two of them. "Just like there is to this."

"Enlighten me," Kyle quipped, looking around to her. Wondering what she had planned.

"It's all in the wrists," she said, dropping both hands to her side. To the twin blasters there, Kyle barely registered the sight of her bringing the pistols up and sending a brutally fast wave of fire balls into the advancing crowds. The Dogbots instantly and easily being cut down by her fire, a pair of Zargons took the opportunity to hurl itself through the gap in the metallic soldiers towards the two red rangers. Reacting, the red Dino Ranger jump kicked one away from him, bringing out his Dino Blaster to aim at its head.

"Might only have one..." he said. "Ah, whatever, two would be overrrated."

As the other Zargon slashed out towards her stomach, Katie managed to take a step back and evade the attack. Springing up from the standing position, she, like Kyle, hit it her opponent with a powerful aerial kick and forced it back. Unlike Kyle, she started to advance towards its landing point upon returning to the ground, combining her two Heat Blasters together.

"Flareon Battle Rifle!" she yelled, aiming the weapon at the fallen Dinosian mutant. "Flareon Fury!"

At her command, the mystical fiery spirit of a Flareon erupted from the barrel of the weapon, racing across the ground towards the grounded creature. Growing in size as it advanced, it quickly hit the Zargon and exploded. Taking the mutated Dinosian with it.

"Red ranger power!"

* * *

"Come on!" Balzan howled, slashing his claws against each other as he glared at Xavier and Nanene. "I'll slice both of you."

"Oh, you will, will you?" Nanene asked, grinning under her helmet. "Let's see what you've..."

Throwing herself forward, she struck out at him with her Slash Baton. The mutant easily parrying her attack, he spun around and sent a kick into her face. As the blue Dino Ranger staggered back, Xavier brought in his Tidal Trident to the fray and thrust out several times into Balzan's stomach. It was Balzan's turn to groan in pain, especially as Nanene came back up to kick him several times in retaliation. The mutant really on the ropes now, the blue Dino Ranger flew in with her Slash Baton to throw several powerful slashes away into his stomach.

"Is that what I've been doing to people?" Balzan asked, sarcastically. "Man, I deserve what I'm getting. But, not from you! I'LL SLICE YOU ALL UP!"

"Nu-uh!" Xavier yelled, his Trident glowing with a bright blue energy. "Waterfall!"

Throwing the end of the weapon up through the air, he hit Balzan with the simulated force that it would take to race up a waterfall. The powerful physical blow hurling him high up into the air, water dripping from his armour.

"Guess he couldn't handle the power of blue," Nanene said, smirking under her helmet.

* * *

"All this..." Alex complained, drop kicking a Dogbot away. "Who makes these things? It's like kicking a toaster."

"When have you ever kicked a toaster?" Paige asked, taking in the sights of the creatures around her and the other white ranger. A few Zaroids, two Dogbots and a Zargon.

"Well, I saw a guy do it in Universal Soldier 9," Alex replied, unable to suppress the grin in his voice, as he punched a Zaroid in the face. Saliva covering his gloves as he did so, the Alpha Ranger quickly spun around to kick another behind him.

"Okay, I get it, you're pretty good," Paige commented, hitting one of the Dogbots with a flying kick to the face. The face, and the rest of the head, flying off at her attack. "But, that's how you do it."

"Like the way that you hit the one which doesn't drool over you," Alex quipped. "That's the spirit."

Even as he spoke, the Zargon opened up its mouth, hurling out a ball of Acid towards the two white rangers.

"Bastiodon Ram!" Alex shouted, a shield in the style of a Bastiodon's head appearing in his hand. Bringing it up, he managed to block the blow, deflecting the Acid away into a tree. "Oh yeah!"

"You think that's impressive?" Paige asked, sarcastically. "I pity you."

"Let's see your weapon then," he said. "Come on. Show and tell."

"Ice Ball!" Paige exclaimed, jumping up into the air. Upon which she transformed into a ball shaped orb of cold white energy, the orb sailing away through the air to streak through the remaining enemies that were determined to attack the two white rangers. Unable to stand up to the full force of her gyro-like attack, the foot soldiers quickly went down in collective heaps.

"Okay, I give," Alex admitted. "That's awesome."

* * *

Finally, Luke and Miborg were taking on the might of Brutus. The huge figure of the Dinosian came into the fight swinging all four limbs towards the pink and purple rangers. Both of them instantly moving to evade the attacks, despite their resistance to fighting type attacks. They'd seen the power that Brutus could wield, neither of them wanting to really wanting to get hit by him.

"Hey! Stand still and let Brutus hit you!"

"Not likely," Luke sneered, diving in behind him to strike with a flying kick to the behemoth's back. The blow alone not quite enough to faze Brutus, he did notice it and spun to grab Luke by the head.

"Uh oh!"

"Hey!" Miborg shouted. "Even though that's not me, pick on someone your own size!"

Miming the act of loading an invisible shotgun, he made the show of aiming the invisible weapon at Brutus. Much to the annoyance of Luke.

"What the... are you doing?" he groaned, trying to break free of Brutus' grasp. "Pull yourself to..."

"Invisiblaster! Psycho Boost!"

Unleashing the attack, Miborg sent a huge burst of psychic energy into Brutus' back, the power forcing him to drop Luke.

"Brutus smash puny pink ranger!"

"Jeez, doesn't this guy have any other hobby than smashing?" Luke groaned, massaging his throat. "I'll give you assistance..."

Ducking back away from Brutus' counter attack, Miborg mimed the act of withdrawing a sword from a sheath at his side. The sword appearing out of the inexistence, the cybernetic Mr. Mime instantly aimed it at Brutus.

"Invisiblade!" he said. "Come on!"

Picking himself up, Luke held out a hand. Summoning his Psycho Spear to steady himself, he hurled himself forward towards the back of Brutus' head. The blade of the weapon glowing with a bright purple energy as he brought it through to slash out.

"Psycho Cut!" the purple ranger roared, the first two blows raking against the back of Brutus' skull. Completely in sync, Miborg went in with the Invisiblade and dealt several blows to the front of the wounded Dinosian. As Luke stepped back, the Mime Ranger spun around to the back and hacked away to the back of Brutus' legs. Unable to bear his own weight due to the well placed injury, the Dinosian sank to his knees, wailing in pain.

"Psycho Cut! Full Power!" Luke shouted, throwing out the weapon, point first towards the already wounded areas at the back of Brutus' head. As it sailed through the air, the Spear easily penetrated the skin, instantly defeating Brutus who fell to the ground and exploded into thousands of pieces.

"And that, folks," Luke said, as he smugly scooped up his Spear from the ground. "Is how the professionals do it. No screwing around with Megazords."

"Nice shot," Miborg commented. "You're obviously good with that."

"Hey, those invisible weapons are pretty cool. Where'd you get them?"

"I am the Mime Ranger. The clue is in the name."

* * *

"Hmph," Dennis remarked, seeing Brutus go up in flames. "This isn't going the way that I anticipated. Oh well, give me the artefact and we'll be on our..."

Looking up into Stegatrix's eyes, the Dinosian's expression instantly told him the full story. That he'd been tricked.

"Son of a bitch."

"This returns to Dinos with me," Stegatrix said, turning to leave. Only for Arbok to open his mouth, unleashing a bright purple Poison Fang towards the back of the Dinosian who only half saw it. Springing around to block it, the attack struck him in the hands, enough to send the Natural Gift sailing up out of his grip and away towards the battle.

"Why, you...!" Stegatrix snarled, making a move towards the artefact. Arbok throwing himself at the Dinosian, his hands glowing with purple energy for a Poison Jab attack.

"Go grab the artefact!" the Coppinger scientist howled, repeatedly hitting Stegatrix's armoured body. "I'll hold him..."

Unable to finish his sentence, Stegatrix, unharmed by the attacks from Arbok, brought out his hammer and whacked him on the head. The Coppinger scientist instantly knocked out cold from the impact of the attack. Yet, as he looked around to where the Natural Gift had landed, Dennis was already halfway towards it, no way for the Dinosian to stop him.

Somebody did. On the edge of the battle, Kyle glanced over to see the Coppinger leader coming towards the group. And then, the artefact on the grass...

"Put it down!" the red Dino Ranger warned, making a grab for the artefact. Dennis yanking it away, turning to push him back with his free hand. Grabbing the outstretched wrist, Kyle used it as a leverage to spring up and kick his opponent in the stomach. The attack barely fazing him, as he began to speak again.

"But, after all the trouble I went to to get it?" he said, sarcastically. "I'll pass."

As Kyle threw himself back at the Coppinger, ready to attack again, Dennis reacted faster. Spinning on the spot to deliver a roundhouse kick to the stomach. As Kyle staggered back from the powerful blow, the Coppinger leader followed up. Unleashing a Dragon Pulse backed punch into Kyle's face, the strike throwing him off his feet.

"You're trying to stop me?" he demanded, kicking Kyle in the stomach. Again, the red Dino Ranger retailated, this time hitting Dennis twice in the face, the blows not really doing much damage. "You arrogant little pissant. I'll take you to pieces..."

Another kick to the red Dino Rangers ribs, Kyle letting out a groan of agony at the action.

"... One limb at a time. You think you can..."

Bending down, he grabbed him up with one hand before slamming him back into the ground. Holding him down, another punch came in towards Kyle's face. Even despite the helmet, he felt them, the repeated strikes sending blood streaming down his face. Or so he imagined, the wetness being either that or tears. And he didn't want to think that it was the latter.

"... Stop me? Stop me from achieving what I need to do. This future makes me sick."

All of the anger in Dennis' words finally struck a note in Kyle's brain, enough to force a reaction.

"You seem angry," Kyle groaned. "You wanna see anger? Because, you won't like me when I'm angry. I don't want to do this, but..."

Even as Dennis let out a harsh laugh at the lame pun, he managed to bring both fists up.

"Blaze Star!"

Upon his morpher, a blue star appeared, flames starting to erupt out of his gloves as they expanded out to cast his entire body in flames. Spreading out, they quickly materialised into armour. Armour including across his chest, a plate attaching to it that covered his abdomen, wait and heels. Upon his back, large wings almost the same height as him appeared. Flames appeared to be the theme of the armour, a dragon's head on his chest being most prominent. The changes began on his boots and helmet, turning them green. His helmet sprouted horns and the visor turned red and gold, before the final act, a blue star appearing on his chest, took place.

"Blazing Red Fury!" Kyle snarled, hurling the Coppinger leader away from him. The anger fuelling his strength, turning the previous mismatch on its head. "How do you like me now?"

"You ready to do this?" Dennis smirked, not really intimidated by Kyle's new form. "Because, you don't know who you're messing with. I shall..."

"Solar Beam!"

* * *

"No!" Nanene yelled, shouting out in worry at the sight of Dennis being hurled back through the air by the powerful white light from Kyle's attack, the Solar Beam having found its mark. "Not now!"

"What's the problem?" Xavier asked, following her gaze. Seconds before he spun around and kicked a Zargon in the face. "If that's a Battlizer, then that's surely..."

"He becomes unnaturally angry when he uses it!" Ritchie shouted, he and Ryan joining the two blue rangers. His voice quickly becoming lower. "It's not a good thing."

"Not the point!" Rei said. "When he uses it... It makes him angry. Simple version. It converts that anger into fire. The more angry he gets, the more powerful he becomes. And... Sometimes, he can't control it."

"What?" Ryan asked, as the rest of the rangers came over to watch Kyle moving towards Dennis. Grimacing in anger at the red Dino Ranger, the Coppinger leader jumped to his feet and fired another Dragon Pulse at Kyle.

"Blaze Beam!" Kyle snarled, ignoring the blast coming towards him. At his frenzied order, a concentrated beam of energy tore from the Blaze Star on his chest, streaking straight through the Dragon Pulse to hit Dennis square in the heart. The red ranger's aim had been good, Dennis went down. Hard.

"Grrawgh!" the red ranger roared, already in the process of bounding towards him to attack again in his savage fury.

"He's going to kill him," Paige said, watching the scene. "He's going to."

"So, what's the problem with that?" James asked. "He's not on our side, does it..."

"As much as it pains me to say it," Katie replied, interrupting him. "Dennis is a mutated human. If Kyle kills him, it'll be murder."

"Kyle!" Rei instantly yelled, trying to snap the infuriated red ranger out of his state of mind. It didn't work, instead he bent down to pick Dennis up by the throat. "Stop!"

"Oh damnit," Katie groaned, stepping forward. "I guess it's down to me."

"You can't stop him!" Miborg said. "The Blaze Star gives Kyle an almost unlimited source of power. Nothing you can do will be enough to..."

"I need to stop him from doing something he's going to regret later," Katie shouted, throwing her arms up. "This is the only chance! Hunter Glider!"

As the vehicle in question came swooping down, leaving its temporary security in the Time Hole, Katie leaped up into the air to secure herself in. Her morpher glowing with a red light, light that transformed into energy that washed over and across her, soon metamorphising into flames. Flames that quickly faded away, as the transformation began. The red energy at her morpher spreading out across her body, she momentarily transformed into a living rendition of a Charizard. Similar to the way that she did when morphing into her Zord form, it only lasted for a second before she returned back to ranger form. Only with some new armour visible, the Charizard's head remaining, her helmet within its mouth with the rest of the face surrounding it. The wings of the Hunter Glider became part of her body, taking on the constitution of Charizard wings. Under her suit, her muscles grew larger, while a cream coloured oval formed on her stomach. Across her chest, a metallic silver band came across, while her gloves and boots hardened and grew claws at the end. The claws on her gloves extended out over her fingers as she landed and took a fighting stance.

"Red Hunter Ranger!" she yelled, flaring out her wings as she ran towards Kyle. And Dennis.

* * *

"Kill you!" Kyle snarled, his voice tinged with growls and roars as he smashed Dennis down into the ground. "Die!"

"Hunter Slash!"

From Katie's own claws, the attack came up against Kyle's arm, the metallic weapons cutting against the armour. Feeling it, the surprise attack was enough to force Kyle to drop Dennis, turning to snarl at Katie. The red Genesis Ranger retreating slightly at the barrage of grunts, growls and roars thrown at her, the message clear.

"Kyle, you're not a murderer!" Katie said. "Now, just..."

Interrupting her, Dennis let out a snicker of laughter at the scene in front of him.

"How ironic," he sneered. "A ranger tries to save me from another ranger. And who's the real villain here?"

Without even pondering the question, Katie darted over to smash him in the face with her boot, the blow knocking the weakened Coppinger out cold.

"Come on, Kyle," the red Genesis Ranger said, trying to appeal to his better nature. "He's not a threat any more. Just... Let him go. Calm down. What do you say?"

For a moment, Kyle didn't say anything. Until he slowly brought his head up to gaze at her.

"Grraargh!" he howled, flinging himself forward. "Fury Drive!"

Hurling himself forward, his body became coated with flames, the claws on his hands outstretched to impale his opponent. Bringing her own arms up, the red Genesis Ranger managed to hold the claws back, Kyle's body barely centimetres away from hers. But...

"Die!" Kyle bellowed, his face close to hers. She could hear the malice in his voice as the fires around him grew ever larger to try and overwhelm her. Several unintelligble grunts emerging from him as he tried to scorch her with the searing flames rising up

"Before you kill me," she said, softly. "There's something you should know."

The curious part of Kyle appeared, just for a moment in his demeanour. Temporarily overshadowing the insanely angry part, his head tilted slightly to the side, watching and waiting for her answer.

"Huh?"

"My suit's based on a Flareon," she replied, her voice dropping as low as his had. "And so..."

Throwing both her arms up, she easily tossed him back. The outlines of her suit glowing with white and red energy, signalling the activation of the Flash Fire ability. "I get a cool ability."

Picking himself up, Kyle hurled himself back into the fray to try and impale her with his claws. Katie calling out an attack as he did so.

"Hunter Beam!"

Without warning, the multicoloured beam of energy shot from the visor in her helmet, the focused burst of energy hitting Kyle in the chest to force him back. As he momentarily staggered, Katie went in on the offensive, throwing a kick towards his head. Ducking down, the red Dino Ranger tried to slash at her standing leg much in the same way Miborg had done to Brutus. Only for Katie to flare her wings and sail over the lunge, her next kick landing from an airborne position. Hissing in pain as her foot crashed against the spikes on his head, Kyle leaped up to try and hit her with a Fury Attack. His horns raking across the front of her costume as he did so, the red Genesis Ranger wincing in pain as she felt her skin under the suit tear. The warm sensations of blood rushing down her chest.

"That's going to leave a mark!" she roared, dropping down to try and hit him with another Hunter Slash. Kyle bringing his own claws up to block, the two sets of weapons locking between the two combatants. Drawing a deep breath, he pushed back, the force of his attack hurling Katie back away from him. As he stared her down for a moment, he let out another barrage of unintelligible howls and snarls, almost challenging her over something.

"Oh, I'm just getting warmed up," she retorted, pushing the pain in her chest wound to the back of her mind. Despite not being able to understand him, she got the general gist of his barrage. "You're not the only one who's getting angry."

Rather than retort back, Kyle instead gave out another series of snarls, followed by a single command. "Blaze Beam!"

Despite her own rising anger levels, she wasn't getting sloppy, rather the opposite as she had expected the surprise attack from him. Her wings extending out, she quickly took to the sky, hearing the whistle of the attack sail wide below her. Growling in anger, Kyle flexed his own wings out and began to fly after her.

* * *

"Oh right," Duo said, surprised. "He can fly as well? I suppose that makes sense, since his Pokémon base is an Aerodactyl."

"Actually," Ritchie offered. "The suit was just built that way. Nothing to do with Kyle."

"Oh."

* * *

Spinning in the air, Katie threw out a boot and managed to catch a blow into Kyle's chest, knocking him back slightly away from her. Enough time to...

"Hunter Slash!"

Extending out her own claws, she tore through the empty space to go for his exposed stomach. The friend turned enemy recovering faster than she had thought to burst up into the air, evading her attack with a sarcastic laugh.

"Urgrawhhg! No escape!" he roared, hovering several feet away from her. "Grrrawgh!"

"Guess what," she replied, through gritted teeth. "I'm faster than you!"

Flaring out her wings to stop her motion, she sailed back at him, taking him by surprise with her speed. Even managing to land two punches into his face before he could recover and retaliate. Striking back with attacks of his own, his punches soon managed to force the red Genesis Ranger back. Steadying herself in middair, Katie threw out a clawed fist to try and force him back. Kyle easily dodging it.

"Hrawrgghhh!" he bellowed, again readying himself to unleash an attack through the air. "Argghh! Blaze Beam!"

Again, the concentrated beam erupted through the air, Katie taking the attack on her gloves. Instantly grimacing from the pain, as it broke through her defenses and struck her in the chest. Kyle immediately flying towards her, keeping up the fire on her. More unintelligible animalistic snarls and howls racing from him, before he suddenly shot through the air with his claws out. Katie barely able to hold him back as she grabbed his wrists. The claws barely inches from her throat.

"No help!" he snarled, determined to keep on trying to force his attack through and impale her. "Uarggh!"

"What the hell," she said, groggily. "It was worth a shot. I'll take what I can get lately. But, I still have one trick in my armory."

Quickly bringing her knee up, Katie made contact with his groin. Instantly recoiling in pain as her knee cracked against the armour, not really doing any damage to Kyle who let out a snarl of savage laughter at the sight. His momentary break allowing her enough give to force him back, she quickly evaluated the pain in her knee. Judging it not serious, she hurled herself forward to grab him from behind, her arms wrapping around his shoulders.

"Learnt that one long before I became a ranger," she taunted in his ear, her wings taking both of them up even higher into the sky. "That's not the best bit though. That honour has to go to... Orbital Toss!"

"GRRAWWRGHH!" Kyle bellowed, his enraged roar whipping back across to her face. Doing his best to break out of her hold, she was barely managing to hold him in place as the two of them started to fly in circles. Powerful fast circles, cutting through the air miles above the Earth.

* * *

"What is she doing?" Nanene asked, looking at the two scrapping red rangers in the sky with confusion. "Trying to make him dizzy?"

"Nah," Paige said. "You ever seen a Charizard use Seismic Toss? It's a variation on that."

Across from them, Arbok and Dennis were still unconscious. Stegatrix had vanished at some point during the commotion, much to everyone's surprise. They had been too busy watching the battle to miss the Dinosian. And also...

"I'll slice you all!" Balzan roared, racing towards them. Apparently having recovered from the stress of battling Xavier and Nanene earlier.

"Oh come on," Luke said. "Is this guy ever going to give up?"

"Don't know about anyone else," Ryan remarked. "But, I'm getting the serious urge to blast this guy into oblivion."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Duo said. "Time for the Genesis Blaster!"

* * *

"Let go!" Kyle snarled, still trying to break out away from the grip that the other red ranger had on him. More grunts and roars emerging amidst the words that he was managing to squeeze out. "Now!"  
"Not if you don't say please," she retorted, finally tearing out of the circles the two of them had been flying in, enough speed having been generated to start racing towards the ground.

"GRRAWARGHA!" he screamed, frantically renewing his efforts to break out of her grasp. Taking the chance, he reacted quickly to the slight hesitation she showed, bringing an elbow up into her side. As her grip loosened, his head came back to smash into the front of her helmet. Twisting himself around across her, he managed to place an arm across her throat. Deliberately tightening his grip to deprive her of air, he let out a brief laugh at the sharp gasp that cut out of her mouth.

Right on cue, the two of them crashed into the ground. A huge cloud of grass and dust rising up from the impact, completely masking them.

* * *

At the same time, the remains of Balzan hit the ground. Duo lowering the Penta-Blizzard Blaster from the firing position, Paige reappearing next to the rest of the rangers from the attack as the mutant exploded.

"Those not so much we're worried about getting destroyed," Luke said, looking around to see the other rangers already running over to the crater in the ground several feet away from them. "Oh right, guess we're already... Never mind."

Even as he followed them over, a limp body came rising up over the group, Katie landing at the ground behind them. Already demorphing out of her Battlizer as the still active form of Kyle leaped up out of the crater and on top of her.

"Man," Nahir said. "He's really annoyed."

"You don't say," James remarked, before raising his voice. "Come on, Kyle! Snap out of it!"

Ignoring him completely, the red Dino Ranger picked Katie up by the throat, slamming his fist against her face. Feeling the visor crack under his attacks, he didn't let up. The shouting not getting to him, not stopping him from directing the full force of his anger against her. Each blow he struck into her not alleviating that fury.

"Kyle! Stop!"

"Come on man, quit it!"

"Oi, psycho. Leave her alone!"

Snarling in anger at their interruptions, he rounded on them, sending a Blaze Beam scarring the ground in front of them. The explosive blast toppling the earth up in front of them, the uprising hurling them back away from where they could interfere. His full attention going back to the ranger in his grasp, her throat between his fingers.

His next blow hurled her helmet away. The pale skin below visible especially in the dying sunlight, blood running down her face from the cut in her forehead. The blond roots of her hair appearing away at the base of the otherwise black colouring.

Katie...

Her name racing out like a lone light in the darkness, hitting him square in the brain. Recognising her, his grip on her slipped as he staggered back away from her. Not only demorphing out of his Battlizer, but also out of the ranger suit as he dropped to his knees. His opponent also demorphing simultaneously as she hit the ground with a grunt. Out of the suit, his anger vanished completely.

And, as she slowly sat up with great effort, he knew that it wouldn't make any difference to what had just happened. Nothing probably wouldn't. But, he still had to say it.

"I...," Kyle started to say, suddenly incredibly ashamed of what had happened. "I'm so sorry."

* * *

"Well..." Oday remarked, looking across to Stegatrix. "This was a failure. No artefact of great power. Which was promised."

"I take full responsibility, Oday," the Dinosian said. "I cannot justify my actions. I thought that there was a chance that we might be able to gain something that could help us take back our rightful home."

"Our alliance with the Coppingers is over?" Farrah asked, looking across from the corner of the room. "Good, because..."

"Even as we speak, they are wandering around below," Stegatrix replied. "Trying to find a way back to their own time. It appears that Balzan was how they got here, without him, we may have to deal with him again."

"Well, if it comes to that," Oday said. "Then so shall it be. Until then, we leave them be. He's no longer our problem. I must say that your plan to use two groups of rangers to get rid of them was quite ingenious. Soon, we'll only have our regular foes to deal with again."

Upon that, he dropped back in his seat and let out a sigh.

"Take it all the stuff that they brought to the table has gone with them. Ah well, we survived before. We'll do it again."

* * *

"At least some good came out of the day," Ryan remarked, looking down at the Natural Gift in his hand. "Out of the whole trip anyway."

"So, how are you guys getting home?" Kyle asked, the fourteen rangers, plus Anna stood on the edge of the exit to Goldenrod City. "Just out of interest."

"Probably the same way we got here," Duo replied. "Time travel."

"You're going to meet Celebi in the forest?" Anna asked. "Say hi to him from me."

"Will do," Nahir said. "Surprised he's not appeared here to..."

"Nahir, if you'd take the time to read the Pokédex," Xavier offered. "You'd know that Celebi are shy Pokémon by trade. He's not likely to come to this crowded city. Completely against his nature."

"Shame," Miborg said. "It's been a bit. Could do with having seen him again."

"Well, it was nice seeing you all," James replied. "Meeting you all. All that stuff."

"I could have told you that, James," Rei said. "All mainly in Hoenn."

"What, Felix, Tara, Darren and the like?" Luke asked. "Because..."

"Mainly thinking more along Danny, Jack, Amii..." Rei replied. "Those other guys... Don't ring a bell."

"Well, the computers in BoO do have recorded history on every group of rangers up to this point," Miborg remarked. "So, they'd be in there."

"Just out of interest," Paige quipped. "It tell you how our quest ends? Whether or not we manage to assemble the Genesis Book."

"Actually," the cybernetic Mr. Mime replied. "I did look it up earlier, while you were all searching for the artefact. There's just a notice about the information being classified in your file. I think it's safe to say that you're not all done making history yet."

"Guess that's some sort of impetus to keep going on," Katie said, glancing over to Kyle. "And there's one more thing before we go..."

Moving over to Kyle, the red Dino Ranger immediately flinched before realising how stupid it looked. Recovering for a second, he then involuntarily flinched again as she raised her hand up. Only to pat him on the shoulder.

"I forgive you," she said. "Look, going on that rampage... I can accept why you used that weapon. None of us in the same situation would have done anything different. One day, you'll get it under control..."

Pausing for a moment, she burst into a grin. Before wincing at the action.

"And then, maybe we'll have a rematch," Katie said, her voice a little sarcastic at the concept. Kyle bursting into a nervous grin at the joke. Before flinching again as she brought her hand away from him.

"Aww," Nanene remarked, smiling a little. "That's kinda cute the way you've got him so nervous."

"Next time, maybe," Katie said, returning the grin. "If we ever meet again, you might want to watch out, Kyle."

"If we ever meet again?" he snorted. "What do you think the odds are of that?"

"Well," Alex said. "Could be high. Anything's possible in this world."

"That's true," Luke said. "If you're ever in Verger in the past, swing by the Silver Gyarados. We'll sure to be out."

"What he means," Nahir smiled, taking a small step onto Luke's foot. Not enough to be noticed, the only sign being the purple ranger's reaction. "You're always welcome if the boot's on the other foot. He does that."

"Awww, ain't that sweet," James remarked. "But, I can't see a time when we'll be transported to the past."

"Never know, do you?" Ritchie said, sagely. "Guess this is goodbye."

"Goodbye is only the start," Paige said. "Maybe we'll all see each other again at some point. Maybe some of us won't. Who knows."

"Either way," Nanene offered, as the seven Genesis rangers turned to head away into the Illex Forest. "Have a safe trip back to the past."

Even as they vanished from view, the Dino Force rangers still watched the point at which they had entered the forest.

"You think they'll do what they need to do?" Rei wondered. "Way back in the past?"

"Guess if they don't, we might not be here having this conversation," Kyle remarked. "Possibly. I guess the present is only the way it is currently because neither they nor the Coppingers have managed to gain an advantage in the search for those artefacts. If the Coppingers win, everything could be different here."

"Ah well," Anna said, straightening up. "No point dwelling on the past. Who's for the rest of the night at Golden Youths?"

"Now that..." James said, rubbing his hands together. "Sounds like a plan."

* * *

"Damnit, hurry up!" Dennis snapped. "Since Balzan was destroyed, we need another way home."

"I'm working on it as fast as I can," Arbok protested, finishing the act of hooking the makeshift portable generator up to the Genesis Book. The device looked like an old style gramophone player, connected to the rare artefact with a couple of leads. "This isn't exactly conventional."

"It won't be conventional when I put my boot in your face," Dennis replied, coldly. "Now hurry up. I'm sick of the future. We need to get back to the past and ensure that this doesn't happen."

"Technically, this is the present day," Arbok pointed out. "Since... Y'know. We're here and not back in the past. Which would become our present then if we get back."

"Just hurry up!" the Coppinger leader spat. "I'm sick of this place. Whatever you're doing, just get on with it!"

"Whatever I'm doing?" Arbok asked. "I'm recalibrating the output of the Genesis Book into a positive balance. Normally, the guarding energy takes whatever it comes into and corrupts it. Hence us and the mutants that we create using it. But, I'm taking it for another use. I'm converting it into a positive energy form so that we can punch a physical hole in reality and return to our own time through it. I tell you, building this out of the parts that we salvaged from the defeated Dogbots wasn't easy. I had to dismantle several other little gadgets I built while here. Sadly."

"Good," Dennis said, not really listening. Before the full force of what had been said struck him. "Wait, isn't that incredibly dangerous? I don't really care about the rest of existence, but I don't particularly want to die."  
"Relax, there's no danger of the universe collapsing," Arbok replied. "I'm not a genius for nothing."

Even as he spoke, the Coppinger scientist opened the book up. The cables instantly starting to crackle with life, the gramophone letting out a strange sound before a multicoloured burst of energy erupted out of it and manifested into a portal in front of them.

"That was quick," Dennis said, glancing at it with disdain. "It's also less impressive than I expected."

"Still, I guess we're going home," Arbok said. "Hold your applause."

"I don't intend to give you any," Dennis replied coldly, as he walked through the portal. Shaking his head, Arbok managed to bundle all the equipment into his arms and follow him. The portal closing behind him.

* * *

"I see that your quest is complete."

Glancing around to the sound of the voice, the seven Genesis rangers saw Celebi sat in the branches of a tree, watching down on them. A small smile on his face as he fluttered down to greet them.

"Yes," Katie said. "It is. Thank you."

"And, you were right," Celebi remarked, glancing at Xavier. "I would rather not go near cities. People less enlightened than you have the propensity to hunt my kind."

"Can't blame them really," Ryan said. "Can you? I mean... If the boot was on the other foot."

"Humans are human by nature," Celebi replied, mysteriously. "There is no changing that."

"That really doesn't make sense," Paige commented. "Anyway... Can we get back now?"

"You are of course right," Celebi said, his eyes starting to glow with energy. "It is time for you to return. But, not before I thank you for amending a situation that could have become quite uncomfortable had it not gone the way it had. You won't see me again, but I wish you luck in your future endeavours."

"Thanks," Duo said. "So... Don't you need to wipe our memories or anything? Isn't that what usually happens in movies about time travel."

"This isn't a movie," Celebi replied, rolling his eyes.

Even as he finished speaking, the light erupted out from his body, engulfing the seven figures. The Genesis rangers slowly vanishing away along with it.

* * *

"Good thing that Dorlinda came along to move all that equipment to the Time Hole," Bill said, glancing over to Lance. "Because, it won't be much good if..."

Completely interrupting the PokéManiac, seven shades of glowing golden energy began to materialise within the bridge of the Silver Gyarados. Quickly reforming up into the shapes of the seven rangers, all of them showing immense relief to be back in their regular time.

"Huh," Luke commented. "Wonder why to go there we had to be in Johto, but this time..."

"Doesn't matter," Xavier said, punching the air. "We're home and dry."

"Welcome back!" Bill exclaimed, as he and the Dragon Master came over to greet them. "You've only been gone half an hour. That was quick."

"Seems like longer," Paige remarked, breathing a huge sigh of relief. "Man, I've missed this place."

"So..." Lance said, looking across to them all. "Did you get it?"

Grinning at the two of them, Ryan opened his hand up to reveal the Natural Gift. The artefact glowing with a slight green aura as he moved across to the safe, ready to open it up.

"We rule," he said, keying in the combination.

"You honestly have no idea what we went through to get that," Katie groaned, making for the exit. "If anyone needs me, I'll be in the shower. Wonder if it goes up as hot as I need it."

"What happened to her?" Lance asked, seeing the plaster on her forehead. "Because..."

"Long story," Duo replied, glancing over to where Ryan had put the Natural Gift alongside the Eternal Flame, the Empath Sapphire, the Liquid Platinum and half of the Eclipse Stone. "But... I think it was a good one."

"You think that Dennis and Arbok are still wandering around in the future?" Nahir wondered. "Because if they were stuck there, it'd really help out. It'd suck for those other rangers, but..."

"Now, when did we ever get that lucky?" Luke asked, grinning at her.

* * *

Peeling a banana as he tapped away at the computer in front of him, almost ready to go and join the rest of the rangers at Golden Youths, something caught Miborg's attention. The icon leading to the file that he had checked earlier, the one on the Genesis Rangers was flashing. Clicking on it with interest, his eyes ran across the files. Where it had previously been obscured with the classified sign, a full page of intricate detail was now there.

"Oh my," he said, eyes widening at the sight. "What's this?"

Puzzling over it for a moment, he stood up from his chair and shot a look at the ceiling.

"It wasn't there before," he muttered, stating the obvious. "So, how is it..."

* * *

"Lab sweet lab," Arbok remarked, the two of them having reappeared in their hideout. "And it's exactly as I left it. Which must mean..."

For a moment, he hopped up and down on the spot like an excited child, before punching the air.

"I did it! I got us back to the exact same time as we left, possibly to a minute or two and there's absolutely no consequence of me having punched a hole in reality."

"Nobody likes a showoff," Dennis commented, gruffly. "Congratulations, I suppose."

* * *

Meanwhile...

Within Verger, anyone gazing up at the sky would have seen nothing but the great blue rising on across the horizon for as far as the eye could see. No sign of anything unnatural, no trace of anything that was wrong.

Barely seconds later, it changed. A huge multicoloured portal opening up across the sky, several dark shadowy shapes dropping down from within it. Even as the portal closed, they began to disperse, heading for the security of the ground...

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Quick note, the ending of the previous chapter has been edited to make it canon with Dino Force. Previously, it wasn't. And on that note, a huge thanks to Psyduck Ranger for the huge amount of help with writing this. **

**Yeah... Bit of a cliché at the end. Just goes to show that you can't rip a hole in reality and there not be some sort of consequence.**

**There was also a line in about the laundered BoO satellite which was given to them by Claire Springfield in Once A Ranger. An event which Luke and Duo happened to be at. Strange time line.**

**So that was the long awaited... Well, on the forum, it's been planned for the best part of half a year... crossover. Hope you enjoyed it.**

**But, it's long. Maybe in retrospect, I should have put it into three parts. Ah well, who cares now.**

**Thanks for the reviews. They are all appreciated.**

**The Battlizer fight... As far as I'm aware, something that has never been done before. Hope that you found it interesting. When those two, Kyle and Katie, meet again in Forever Red, it's sure going to be an interesting occasion. Especially if he's worried that she might chin him at some point.**

**Anyway, the next one... I hope to get back to regular updating at some point in the next few days. But, it's entitled Last Ranger Standing. Preview below.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Actually, Mal and Tim can reply today. Or rather Malcolm and Timothy. Whichever takes my fancy.**

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* * *

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**Chapter Thirty One, Last Ranger Standing, Preview.**

**Bill: Something strange happened.**

**Katie: There was something here.**

**Luke: This thing isn't a Coppinger monster!**

**?: I shall rip you all to pieces.**

**Nahir: We can't escape from it.**

**?: You are all mine!**

**Duo: You can't hit what you cannot see!**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	31. Last Ranger Standing

Chapter Thirty One. Last Ranger Standing.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_With Luke's failure to get the Natural Gift away from the Jirachi guarding it, Dorlinda managed to track down a Celebi who had taken the artefact. Very apologetic, the Celebi took the seven Genesis Rangers to the future where they soon hooked up with the Dino Force Rangers. It soon turned sour as Dennis and Arbok followed them there, the Coppingers teaming up with the Dinosians for a temporary alliance. An alliance that became apparent as the Dino Force Rangers were captured and offered in exchange for the Natural Gift. As the Genesis Rangers scoured the region for it, Ryan eventually managed to lay a hand on it. Miborg made the exchange, despite a distraction, and managed to get the others back. His own deception soon became apparent, as the fourteen rangers managed to track the artefact and its holders down. Not willing to give it up without a fight, Dennis and Stegatrix summoned a giant army and attacked. Even fighting their way through, the rangers were unable to get to the leaders. Until Stegatrix tried to double cross Dennis. As the artefact fell free, Kyle went to stop him. Despite being bested by Dennis in combat, he brought out his Battlizer and managed to retake the upper hand. Worried that he might murder Dennis, Katie burst into the fight with her own Battlizer and went to counter him. As the two red rangers duked it out, Kyle eventually managed to win but calmed himself down when he dislodged Katie's helmet. In the combat, Balzan was destroyed, leaving the Coppingers to find their own way home by punching a hole in reality. Meanwhile, the fourteen rangers said their goodbyes, before returning to their own time. Finally, as a result of Dennis and Arbok, a tear in reality opened up, sending out several shadowy creatures into Verger..._

_

* * *

_

"Okay, so here's the joke," Duo said. "Three Pokémon trainers are on a boat. One of them has aSteelix, one of them has an Umbreon and the third is empty handed. Or so it would seem. The boat is sinking..."

"Presumably because there's a Steelix on board?" Nahir asked, looking at him. "Is that the reason?"

"Sure, if you like," he said. "But... It's not out. Anyway, as the boat is sinking, these three trainers are wandering around, all going crazy about how they're going to survive without drowning. The third trainer then produces a Gyarados, a Lapras and an Empoleon. They all think that they are saved, when the trainer says that he never taught them Surf. And they all drown. It's an expression of idiocracy."

"Wha...?" Katie asked. "That makes no sense. You don't have to teach a big water type Pokémon how to use Surf. My Ludicolo doesn't know..."

"So when you were travelling around, you didn't use your Gyarados for surfing?" Luke asked. "I'm interested."

"Well, my Gyarados does know Surf, because it's a good attack," Katie protested. "Xavier, back me up here. Your Blastoise doesn't know Surf right?"

"Never taught him the move," the blue ranger replied. "But, he might have picked it up at some point. It makes no sense with HM moves that you get in those online games where you start off as a rookie trainer. They're all techniques that Pokémon should know naturally."

"AKA the ability to fly," Paige said. "Move across water, light up a dark area, smash a rock, cut down a tree, move a boulder... Which ones am I missing?"  
"Climbing up rocks," Ryan remarked, as Bill came running into the room, a worried look on his face as he did so.

"Guys," he said, quickly. "I think that there's something you should see up here. It's quite worrying."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord and North Wind Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

"I don't get it," Luke said, glancing down at the huge monitor that Bill was showing to them. Nothing immediately of interest appearing on the screen. "What is this, a video, or...?"

"Yeah, that's what it is," the PokéManiac replied, still sounding disturbed. "Just keep watching."

Still watching the images in front of them, the seven rangers saw something. Something not quite there, rather a strange flash of energy momentarily bursting across the horizon.

"What the hell is that?" Xavier asked, peering closer. "That's not... What are we looking at?"

"Something strange happened," Bill said, pointing down to the screen. "Right there. You can't quite see it on this image, but if I do this..."

Hitting several buttons below the monitor, the screen turned black. Revealing several pale shapes against the blackness, the rangers reacting with surprise at the sight.

"What the heck are those things?" Nahir asked, peering in closer. "That's not right."

"Based on my humble opinion," Bill replied, pointing to the outlines of the portal that they had escaped from. "If I had to take a guess, this is a rip in reality. Which means that those things are..."

"Aliens!" Luke yelled, jumping up in surprise. "Of all the things that we have to deal with..."

"I was going to say from another dimension," Bill replied. "Technically, they're not aliens. Don't treat them as such."

"How do we know they're not?" Paige asked. "They might well be... Come to think of it. When did you gain the knowledge to recognise that as a rip in reality?"

"Lots and lots of sci-fi TV and more video games than I'd like to admit to," Bill said, his head dropping slightly. "But, using this filter I was able to track them. It's a souped up Silph Scope. Which means that they must be ghostly in origin. I can track them, but it may take time."

"Typical, huh?" Ryan remarked. "Another great big threat to us. Is this ever going to end?"

"Actually, I've already got the location of one," Bill replied. "At least where it came down. Maybe you can go check it out, see what we can gather from the crash site."

* * *

"It always has to be a forest," Duo remarked, looking around the area that Bill's coordinates had lead them to. "What is it about forests that attract us so much here and there. It's disturbing."

"You're such a city boy," Katie commented. "Not being comfortable in the natural..."

"Hey, you're from a city too," the black ranger pointed out. "Eon City."

"It's not as big as Goldenrod," Katie told him. "So there. Plus, it's fairly close to being a town. Rather than a city. It's a small city."

"We didn't need to know that," Xavier commented. "Is it really..."

"I see something!" Paige called, spotting something glowing in the distance. "Something that could be what we're looking for."

"Why are we still here then?" Ryan wondered, making a move towards the glowing resonance across from them. "Let's get going."

"There was something here," Katie said, glancing down at the hole in the ground. The smouldering crater still warming the air around them, almost ominous in itself. "And recently as well. Maybe it hatched or something..."

"Science not your strong point, huh?" Nahir asked, dropping to her knees on the grass in front of the crater. "But, you might be right. There are pieces of rock here. Could be what you said. Or, it could just be broken stone from where the ground was hit."

"Heh, look at that," Luke remarked, grinning over at the yellow ranger. "Got to love that big brain. Added to the package that it's in and..."

"Okay, where's the real Luke?" Xavier asked, sarcastically, before jumping back as something occurred to him. "Maybe we shouldn't be messing around with bits of broken rock that could have come from a meteor. Remember when we were in SDI?"

"Oh yeah..." Nahir said softly, seconds before Luke let out a snicker of laughter.

"Definitely," he replied. "Personality altering meteor rocks."

"I could do with avoiding that," Xavier commented. "Got a date this afternoon with Christy. Could do with not being a jerk."

"Wait, is that what happened to you?" Katie asked. "I don't remember. Not being there. You turned into a jerk."

"All I remember is that you and Nahir suddenly got very friendly," Xavier remarked, glancing over to Luke. "Really interesting."

"Wait a second," Paige asked, her attention back on Xavier. "Christy? The Save the Meowth girl?"

"Fourth time I've seen her," the blue ranger replied. "Since we all don't have a long lost love in the futur..."

"Woah!" the white ranger yelled, before calming down slightly. "So, where are you meeting her?"

"I'll be meeting her at Ocean World," Xavier replied. "She's trying to sell badges for Cruelty Against Meowth there, so..."

"Hey, I heard about that," Katie commented. "Don't they have a really big Octillery there?"

"Yeah, it's a new arrival," Luke said. Everyone present instantly looking over at him in surprise at his sudden show of knowledge. "What? Sponsorship. Plus, we own twenty nine percent of Ocean World. My family does, anyway."

"Can you get me a discount entrance fee?" Xavier asked, grinning at the purple ranger sweetly. "Come on!"

"Hehehehehe!" Luke laughed, smiling at him. "No!"

"Should have seen that one coming," Duo remarked, grinning at the way the purple ranger had replied to the question. "I'll come part of the way with you. I need to head over to Eon City for something."

"Anything in particular?" Katie asked. "Anything ranger related?"

"Is everything we have to do related to our ranger duties?" the black ranger replied, rolling his eyes. "I ordered a set of Heavy Balls from over in Johto. This was the best place for them to deliver to."

"Oh, okay then."

* * *

"That is one sweet Octillery," Xavier remarked, glancing down at the Pokémon in the tank below him. "I mean... Wonder where they found one so big."

"That's Chesney," Christy commented. "I heard they found him in the deepest depths of the Whirl Islands in Johto. He got into a fight with a small Wailord, it lasted forty days and forty nights. Then, when they couldn't go on, they washed up in Cianwood City. Chesney was badly injured and had to recover in the Pokémon Centre. Rather than release him back into the wild, they figured that they'd transport him over here."

"Is that true?" Xavier asked. "I mean..."

"Nah, it's a complete lie. The worst part about this is the part where Chesney's locked up in a tank. He should be off fighting Wailord at the deepest depths of the ocean, not being gawked at by tourists."

"Okay, wow," the blue ranger replied. "Guess you're not just crazy about protecting Meowth. Funny, because a friend of mine is against battling as well."

"I'm not against battling," Christy said. "I'm against putting a big Octillery in a tank and having people look at him. But, I believe in the link between trainer and Pokémon."

"Cool. That's a relief," Xavier grinned. "Because..."

"Yeah, I know," she said. "League Champion and former Poké Ranger."

"Wha...? Oh yeah. SDI."

"Think that's kinda sweet that you did a job like that," Christy commented. "Protecting the region. Not just people, but Pokémon as well."

"Heh," Xavier replied, laughing nervously. "I'm sure anyone in the same position would have done the same."

Glancing down to his watch, he quickly shot her a smile.

"So, we going to get out of here then?" he asked. "Get over onto our surprise destination."

"Ooh, a surprise!"

* * *

As the two of them made to leave, a black shape swept through the shadows. Watching Chesney the Octillery in the fountain, a smirk started to flash across the dark features. If anyone had been able to get a good look at it, after they finished screaming, they might have said that it resembled a Darkrai with long skinny arms, no real lower body other than a tapered point and vicious jaws filled with pointed teeth. Rather than white fur across their face, it was bright red. Laughing to itself, the creature hurled itself up into the air and bulleted towards Chesney...

* * *

"Huh," Bill remarked, glancing over to his console. A dull burst of sound signalling the alarms, the repeated trill designed to be intentionally annoying to the listener. "What the...?"

"What's that?" Lance asked, coming across to see the source of the commotion. What had gotten Bill so interested, the alarm never a good thing. "Coppinger attack?"

"I don't think that it's a Coppinger attack," Bill replied, the PokéManiac getting to his feet to walk over and join Lance where he stood. "It's at Ocean World. It's not Genesis energy, it's... Oh my."

"What? What is it? Oh my in a good way, or...?"

"That energy," Bill replied. "The fragments that the rangers brought back from the crash site earlier. I ran it into the scanner to track any traces of what caused it. It's similar. Very similar."

"Better get them up here then," Lance remarked, the Dragon Master shrugging his shoulders as he made the comment. "The rangers need to know this."

* * *

"Space energy?" Nahir asked, as the group of rangers, minus Xavier and Duo looked attentively at the screen in front of them. "Are you..."

"I'm not completely sure that this is space energy," Bill corrected. "But, it's unusual. And possibly dangerous."

"It always is," Luke groaned. "Potentially dangerous. Man..."

"Whatever it is," Lance remarked. "I think that the five of you should get down there and see if you can spot what is going on. If it gets really dangerous, then we'll call Xavier and Duo over to help you. But..."

"Hey, if they want to miss the fun," Paige quipped. "Then, why invite them. Let's get this show on the road!"

As one, the five rangers brought up their morphers, ready to activate them.

"Genesis Overload!"

Morphing into their suits, the five of them made a run for the exit.

* * *

Screams rang out through Ocean World, as the creature in question rose out of Chesney's pool. What had formerly been an Octillery now only held traces of that Pokémon in its appearance. It was shaped like a human, having the body shape and face of one. His face including eyes, nose, mouth and ears. However, its skin was red, with yellow dots, and he had black hair. He wore some tentacle-fashioned armour across his upper body, legs and arms, while carrying a weapon that looked like an Octillery's head in his arms. At his waist, there was a bright red sack that looked to be fashioned of scales.

"This must be Earth," he mused, looking around at the fleeing humans. "Interesting. Oh well. A new place to hunt. A brand new..."

Pausing his speech, he brought up his weapon and fired twice into the crowd. His blasts tagging a running man and a fleeing woman, the two of them were instantly converted into energy and transported into the sack at his waist.

"Run before Octomius," he laughed. "I'll hunt you all down!"

* * *

"Do you hear that...?" Xavier asked, spinning on the spot to look back at Ocean World. "I heard screams. Something's going down."

"Someone probably fell into a pool with a Sharpedo," Christy remarked, slightly sarcastically. "And now they're panicking."

"Either way..." the blue ranger began to say. "It's probably better to..."

"Not going to morph and sort out whatever trouble is there, are you?" she asked, grinning at him. "Huh?"

"Ah, I gave up my morpher when my job was done," he admitted. "So, that option is..."

"Holy crap!" Christy shouted, the form of Octomius leaping up over the huge wall to emerge into view in front of them. "What is that?"

"Don't know," Xavier muttered, already leaning over to shield her with his arm. As Octomius stood on the wall, he brought his weapon up and began to fire into the crowds. Several humans turned into balls of energy under his fire, the general panic reigning out at his actions. "But I think we should make a run for it!"

Spotting the two of them running away from him, Octomius brought his weapon up to aim. Locking in on them, twin reports exploded from the barrel, homing in on the two of them. Within moments, they had been converted to energy and sucked into the sack at his side.

"Ha, these'll be excellent to sell at some point," the monster smirked, triumphant in the captures he had made. "Slaves. Can't get enough of..."

Unable to finish his triumphant battle cry, a fire ball hit him in the side, Katie's attack throwing him off the wall that he was perched on. Jumping up in anger, the fury coming from the slight burn on his side, he rounded on the five figures in front of him.

"Ah, what do we have here?" he demanded. "Challengers. Galactic Law Enforcement!"

"What did he just say?" Ryan asked. "Is he a bit slow?"

"Nah, can't be Galactic Law Enforcement," Octomius commented, spotting Luke. "There isn't one in that colour. So, you're vigilantes. This means that..."

Bringing his weapon up, he sent a series of Water Pulse attacks bombarding towards the rangers. Only Ryan really being unaffected as Katie, Nahir, Paige and Luke were hurled back by the attack, the four of them hitting the ground.

"You're going to get it!" Ryan yelled, throwing himself through the air. "Fauna Hammer! Frenzy Plant!"

As the weapon appeared in his hands, but before he could bring it down to strike, Octomius brought his weapon up.

"Fire Blast!" he commanded. "Time to singe!"

At the command, a five sided ball of fire erupted from the blaster, hitting Ryan in the chest. Hurling the green ranger back to the ground, Luke and Nahir managed to get up and bring their weapons out.

"Psycho Spear! Psycho Cut!"

"Storm Staff! Discharge!"

The two rangers unleashing their attacks, Octomius only groaned at the electricity that coursed through his body. Reacting almost automatically, his blaster let loose its load against Luke before he could hit. The purple ranger flying backwards through the air from the sheer force of the attack.

"This thing isn't a Coppinger monster!" Luke yelled, as he hit the ground several feet away. Octomius covering the distance in moments, before kicking him as he stepped over the purple ranger.

"I shall rip you all to pieces," he said, calmly. "There is nothing you can do to escape me, for you are all mine!"

"I'm nobody's!" Paige yelled. "Ice Ball!"

Transforming herself into her white energy form, she sent herself hurtling away through the air, striking Octomius several times. Instead of faltering, the creature batted away with his weapon. Adjusting the controls to hit her with another Fire Blast as she reformed, the white ranger let out a yell of pain from the red hot attack, dropping to her knees.

"Okay, my turn!" Katie yelled, jumping into the fray. If I attack at close range, she thought, I might be able to stop him from using the weapon.

The thought still in her mind as she pirouetted on the spot and struck Octomius with a roundhouse kick. Groaning in pain, the monster brought his weapon up to club her. Blocking it with her arms, Katie again tried to go for him with an attack, yet the strange creature managed to dodge it and hit her in the face with the weapon. As she staggered back, more Water Pulse blasts came out and shattered over her, the multiple attacks throwing her to the ground.

"You're no match for the Galaxy's premier Slaver, Octomius," the monster taunted, fiddling with his weapon. "Switching to contain mode!"

Bringing the weapon up, he fired a beam of energy at Katie. At the sight of their leader being sucked inside the Slaver's sack, the other four rangers instantly began to try and regroup.

"Ah man," Luke groaned, the Slaver turning the weapon towards them. "What now?"

"As senior ranger here," Paige offered. "I'm suggesting run for it. Live to fight another day!"

With her words in their ears, the four of them made a break for it. Unwittingly demorphing from their costumes as they left the field of battle, Octomius watched them go with a small laugh.

"So, the hunt is on," he remarked. "Interesting."

* * *

"Uh oh!" Lance exclaimed. "What's going on with them? Why did they demorph?"

"As far as I can tell," Bill replied, looking at the monitor next to him. "Their morphers are overloaded. Same old story, when a ranger takes too much damage, they demorph. I'm really worried about them here though. The overload has taken out their communicators. Even if they want to, they can't summon their Hover Chasers to get out of there."

"That's not what worries me the most," Lance said, looking at the pictures of Octomius. "What is that thing?"

"No idea, but like Luke said," Bill commented. "It's not a Coppinger monster. We need to tread carefully. Think we should inform Duo to get himself over there."

"Thought we were going to handle it with care? Not unleash Duo's brand of merry hell down onto the situation," Lance smirked. "Okay, since we don't have an alternative."

* * *

"Thanks, love," Duo said, grinning at the courier, before reaching down to his wallet to pay the fee. Net even registering the slight outrage from the heavily tanned girl wearing brown shorts and a green shirt at the use of the term 'love'. Outrage that soon departed. "These will come in handy."

"Hey, we're hearing that a lot," the courier said, sending an uneasy grin at him. "Azalea Poké Ball Delivery ensure that you get your stuff on time. If nothing else."

"Give my regards to Big Kurt," the black ranger said. "He's a life saver. Needed these. I was planning on hunting something big and heavy, thought these would come in handy."

"What's your target?" the courier asked, raising one of her eyebrows at him. "If you don't mind me..."

"Giant Onix," he grinned. "That's what I'm looking for. Heard that there's one terrorising the neighbourhood in Perrin City. Might make a play for it."

"APBD wishes you luck in your use of these Poké Balls," she said, reeling off the standard disclaimer. "We hope that you'll use our service again."

"They keep sending you, I might just do that," Duo replied, winking at her. "Alright then, I've got an Onix to..."

Before he could finish, his morpher beeped. Attracting the attention of the girl who had brought him the package.

"Nice beeper," the courier commented. "Didn't know you could get one in watch form."  
"Yeah, it's a prototype," he replied. "I've got a friend who's a genius PokéManiac. Built it for me. Meant to have it on vibrate though."

Tapping it on the face to stop it letting out its sound, the black ranger quickly dropped the package under his arm and made for the exit.

* * *

"You done flirting yet?" Lance asked, irritably. "The others need you. ASAP."

"Really?" Duo replied, grinning at the thought. "Wondered how long they'd last without me. Is all hell breaking loose on the Silver Gyarados without my ready wit and infectious charm?"

"Not to mention your ego," Bill commented, dryly. "They're in Red Moon City. Being chased by what we think is one of the creatures that came into this reality."

"So, worse than I expected?"

"It's hunting them," Lance said. "They've overloaded their morphers, they're more or less defenseless. We can't track Katie or Xavier either, they've gone off the grid, probably as a result of what this thing did to them."

"Guess I'll go and see what I can do then," the black ranger remarked. "Wish me luck."

* * *

Behind the four of them, another blast of energy came crashing down. Hitting the spot where Ryan had been stood seconds earlier, Octomius' attack instead hit a pensioner who the green ranger had ducked behind.

"I so regret doing that right now," Ryan muttered. "But needs..."

Before he could finish, a third blast of energy hit him in the lower back and sent him going the way of the other two rangers. Into Octomius' sack, no traces of him left.

"Crap," Paige muttered, still trying to lead herself, Nahir and Luke through the crowds. "Could really do with some backup right about now."

"The morphers are down though," Luke pointed out. "So... Get down!"

Interrupting himself, he dropped to the floor and pulled Nahir down with him. The attack from Octomius sailing over their heads and hitting Paige in the arm. The white ranger instantly vanishing from view.

"Thanks, but was that really necessary?" the yellow ranger asked, climbing up to her feet. As Luke got to his feet, she shot him a strange look. "Anyway, we're getting out of here. Take my hand."

"Thought you'd never ask," he grinned at her, before doing so. "Wondered how long it'd be before you wanted to do this in publ..."

Deciding that she'd heard enough from him, Nahir began to run. Her enhanced speed easily taking the two of them away out of range.

* * *

"Not bad," Octomius remarked, having watched them vanish. "But, you can't outrun Octomius. Let me see..."

Looking down the sight of his sniper scope, he zoomed in on where he expected the two of them to be and fired twice. Blinking slightly, he looked through the scope again to see two balls of energy coming up towards him, quickly becoming stored in the sack at his waist.

"Not a bad days work," he remarked. "Few more and I'll try to work out the best way to get these things on the black market. Should be good value, especially for..."

"I've got another offer for you. One that is good value."

Turning at the challenge, Octomius saw Duo stood on the rooftop across from him, an arrogant look on his face.

"How about you let them go and crawl back to the hole that you came from, and I won't destroy you!"

"That's your offer?" the Slaver asked, incredulously. "Forget it. I only deal in credits. I should take you right now for your pathetic attempt at diplomacy."

"You think I'm being diplomatic?"

"Your species thinks that it can talk its way out of trouble with words," Octomius remarked, shaking his head in disgust. "All the same. Think I am going to take you, it'll give me great pleasure selling you."

"Alright then," Duo yelled, as the weapon came up. "Let's see how good you are! Hit me!"

"I never miss!" Octomius retorted. "Your attempts to goad me are futile."

"You might never miss," Duo replied. "But even you can't hit what you cannot see!"

"What?"

Even as Octomius registered his belligerent shock at the taunt, Duo vanished from sight. Turning himself completely invisible.

"What the...?"

Completely out of the blue, a punch hit him in the side of the face. Bringing his weapon up, Octomius fired in the direction that it had came from, the blast sailing miles wide of hitting anything.

"Missed me!" the black ranger taunted, momentarily reappearing at the opposite end of the roof. "You couldn't hit a Miltank with a banjo!"

Vanishing again, he saw Octomius spin and blast away at the space where he had been. Duo, of course, already having moved away. Hurling himself forward, he kicked the creature in the other side of the face this time. Again the blasts came in, again he hurled himself away.

"You're starting to annoy me," the Slaver growled. "Don't think that I won't..."

This time, Duo hit him from behind. And, as Octomius fell forward, the black ranger swept in and grabbed the sack up off his belt. Despite the angry protestations of the creature, the black ranger quickly ran to the edge of the building and began to empty the contents over the side.

* * *

As the people that had been trapped inside the sack began to reappear, the black ranger found his way to the ground and to his friends. The five rangers who had initially fought Octomius, plus Xavier and Christy.

"Man, that was cramped," Luke complained, stretching himself out. "Honestly."

"Oh well, we're out now," Xavier said, before looking over to Christy. "You okay?"

"Fine," she replied, puzzled. "Everyone else is. Why wouldn't I be?"

"She's got you there," Paige offered. Seconds before Octomius hurled himself from the building in front of them, growing to a giant size in middair. As he landed, the ground began to shake, almost simulating an earthquake in the immediate vicinity. Screaming in terror again, the people who had been rescued from the sack began to run away. Xavier quickly looking again to Christy, with a weak smile.

"Go on," he said. "I'm right behind you. I'll catch up. Just want to make sure that nobody else is injured around here. Unable to escape."

"Be careful," Christy warned. "But, go for it as well. Stay safe!"

As she blew a kiss at him, and turned to run, Luke and Duo both began to smirk at the blue ranger.

"Stay safe, Xavier," Duo said, sarcastically. "Don't get hurt."

"It's more than you're getting lately," Xavier pointed out, slightly edgily. "Ever since you broke up with someone in possibly the worst way possible."

"Yeah, that was pretty bad," Nahir agreed. "But, I think we're past that now. We going to fight this thing?"  
"Sounds like a plan," Katie replied, the seven of them bringing up their morphers.

"Genesis Overload!"

Morphing into their ranger suits, Duo stepped forward to give the command to summon what would enable them to take the fight to Octomius' level. Again.

"Time to transform!" the black ranger yelled, the six of them instantly morphing up into their Eevee forms. Their enemy laughing in response at their efforts.

"That's not going to do you a whole lot of good," he taunted. "You're all washed up."

"You're going down for good, Octomius!" Duo shouted, glancing down to the controls in front of him. "You've been here for too long."

"What are you going to do about it?" the monster demanded. "Because..."

"Overload Zords! Megazord formation!"

Under the command, the six Zords turned into their robot forms and began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbs and tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. Standing up, it took up a fighting stance.

"Don't forget about me," Paige shouted, looking up at the two giant figures. "Double Team!"  
As she began to glow with a bright white energy, the white ranger split into three several figures, each of them instantly shouting out another command.

"North Wind Megazord!"

At the command, the three figures grew, before transforming, the replicants into a Froslass and a Dewgong, while the original white ranger transformed into a Glaceon. Next, the three giant Pokémon shifted into robot forms and began to move into formation. The Froslass rotating upside down, its head shifting up to form feet, before it split in half. The bottom part of the Zord rising up to connect to the bottom of the Glaceon whose front limbs rose out in front of it to form some chest armour. The rear legs joining with the tip of the split Froslass. The Glaceon's head rose up to form the head of the Megazord, while the Dewgong split in half down the middle. The upper body and head going to form the left arm, while the bottom half of the body and the tail moved to the right arm.

Not really caring about the sight in front of him, Octomius brought his weapon up, not hesitating to fire at will towards the two of them. The shots from his blaster already dealing large amounts of damage towards the two robots.

"Man, he took out our shields," Luke complained. "Honestly."

Before anyone could remark upon his complaint, the Slaver strode in and hit the North Wind Megazord with his weapon. The heavy blow leaving a dent within the metal surface, Paige shouted out in surprise.

"Hey, not on the paintwork!" she shouted. "Wind Blaster!"

Under her orders, the tail of the Dewgong on the right arm began to spin around, covering Octomius with a cold wind. Only for the seven of them to quickly notice that it wasn't really doing much damage on the surface.

"You can't hurt me!" Octomius taunted. "That's nothing more than a tickle."

"Let us try then," Katie shouted. "Genesis Blaster!"

Responding to the command of the red ranger, the Overload Megazord brought the weapon up out from containment in the Vaporeon leg. Levelling it up at the enemy, it was Nahir's turn to give out an order.

"Charge Beam!"

Instantly, the crackling yellow beam erupted out, hitting Octomius in the chest. Yet, no sooner had he doubled over in pain did he recover, barreling forward into the Overload Megazord and knocking it back.

"Ice Breaker!" Paige bellowed, the left arm of her Megazord coming up to smash against Octomius' chest. Rather than be cowed by the attack, the Slaver brought his arm up and grabbed the robot by the throat.

"Not impressed," he snarled, before tossing the North Wind Megazord to the ground. Even as Paige let out a yell of pain, the Overload Megazord came back in to grapple with the rampaging Octomius.

* * *

"Uh oh," Bill remarked, the sights on the screen in front of them going from bad to worse as the Overload Megazord was thrown to the ground. Without letting up, Octomius fired again, sending several balls of fire into the North Wind Megazord. "This is bad."

"You're stating the obvious there," Lance commented, frantically glancing around the bridge. "Is there nothing that we can do to help them?"

"Errr... They transform into their Zords," Bill replied, folding his arms and giving the Dragon Master a strange look. "I haven't had a chance to look at them for that reason. So it's not like I can channel more power into them."

"Then... What can we do?" Lance wondered. Seconds before the door slammed open and Dorlinda ran into the room.

"What's going on?" he asked. "I got the feeling that..."

His eyes falling out onto the screen, he saw the North Wind Megazord fall to the ground. As the Overload Megazord tried to hit Octomius, he dodged the blow and hit them with a Hyper Beam.

"Yeah, I was right. He was right," Dorlinda remarked. "Don't worry about this, I've got something for them. A little Pidgey told me that they might need it."

"Well, why are you still here?" Lance demanded. "They need your help."

"Right on it!" the Lord of Time said, ignoring the request, before vanishing away with a faint popping sound.

"Why do you think?" Lance asked. "Why'd he slam the door open to get in, but just teleport out?"

"Dramatic entrance."

* * *

"Aww, man," Katie complained, as the Overload Megazord hit the ground again, kicking dirt up as it slid across the ground. "This is bad!"

"That phrase should be banned," Luke groaned. "We know it's bad. Stating it doesn't..."

"Rangers!"

"Man, I'm hallucinating," Duo groaned, looking at the console. "I'm sure that I just heard Dorlinda."

"You did, Duo," Dorlinda said, watching the events from the Time Hole. "I'm currently watching you, having hacked into your communication system. You might want to look at that, if you survive."

"Are you actually planning on being helpful, or just commenting on our lax security?" Nahir asked, slightly annoyed at the insult. "Because..."

"Oh, I'm already in the process of helping," the Lord of Time said, a grin on his face as he glanced over to the Zord Bay across from him. "I've been modifying something. A little something that I think may be able to help you. Enjoy it."

"Whatever it is, you might want to hurry," Ryan warned. "Because we're not going to last much longer."

"Already on its way," Dorlinda replied, punching the button in front of him. "I can't stress this part enough. Enjoy it."

* * *

Roaring out in pride, Octomius threw his arm out and struck the North Wind Megazord in the chest. As Paige's Megazord staggered back, everyone present heard a huge primal roar wash across them.

"What the...?" Xavier said, looking around to try and spot the source of the roar. "Where did that come from?"

"No way!" Duo yelled, jumping out of his seat as he spotted the source. "I see it! I think I see it!"

Rolling across the ground, slowly arriving on the scene of the battle, was the Dialga Carrier.

"What is that?" Luke asked. "I don't quite...?"

"It's the Dialga Carrier," Paige offered. "We used it in G-Force to finish them off."

"Correct," Dorlinda said. "But you're wrong on one part. This is the Dialga Carrier Mk. 2. When I rebuilt it, I souped the power up to max. It's tougher, faster and even more powerful than before. And I've also modified it to be able to combine with your Zords."

"Nice!" Katie said. "We're getting recycled technology, but nice!"

"Oh, and it's no longer Transwarp Ultrazord," Dorlinda remarked. "I'm thinking more along the line of Genesis Ultrazord. It's more apt."

"We're arguing about the name?" Duo asked. "Screw this. Genesis Ultrazord! Now!"

At the command, the two Megazord's instantly began to disassemble. The Zords converting back into their robot forms, the back of the Dialga Carrier opened up. It didn't take long for the Zords to rush inside, the Flareon and Umbreon going in first, followed by the Vaporeon and Leafeon. Then the Jolteon and Espeon came on in, while the Glaceon brought up the rear. As the hatch at the back slammed shut, the seven Zords began to power up the Dialga Carrier. The Zord bursting into life, the eyes began to glow with a bright red energy. Within moments, the seven rangers materialised inside the cockpit up in the head of the machine.

"Genesis Ultrazord!" the seven rangers yelled, as the heavy machine began to accelerate across the ground. "Ready!"

"That's not going to help you out!" Octomius snorted. "I'll destroy you all!"

"Not going to happen," Duo said, hitting several buttons in front of him. "Genesis Ultrazord! Rainbow Fury Blast!"

Roaring proudly, the mouth of the Genesis Ultrazord opened up. Sending a seven coloured beam of energy racing through the air, the seven colours of the rangers inside, the blast struck Octomius in the chest and flung him to the ground. The creature shrinking away back into the form of the larger than normal Octillery on the ground in front of them.

"What the...?" Nahir asked. "That's different."

* * *

"Man, Chesney looks traumatised," Xavier remarked, the seven rangers now out of their suits and looking at the grounded Octillery. "He'll never get over this. How are we going to explain how we got him back?"

Without hesitating, Katie brought out a Poké Ball and tossed it at the Pokémon. The capsule hitting it, the Jet Pokémon was instantly sucked inside the item. Dropping to the ground, the orb twitched for several moments before becoming still.

"That's how," she said. "Duo can subtly drop him back in, release him... I'll want the Poké Ball back of course."

"Like the way that I'm getting roped into this," the black ranger groaned. "Honestly."

Even as she tossed the red and white orb towards him, Duo spotted something erupting up over the horizon. The same shadowy black spectre erupted into view, charging towards him. A deathly screech howling from its jaws as it did so, the outstretched claws going for his face...

Only for a stream of rainbow coloured light to shoot out and hit the Darkrai-like creature in the back. Instantly dispelling it into nothing, the black spectre vanished into thin air. The startled rangers looking over to see Dorlinda walking towards them, a purple crystal in his hand.

"Figures," he remarked. "A Dark Spectre."

"A what?" Nahir asked. "What's a Dark Spectre?"

"That," Dorlinda replied. "Far far in the future, we're talking in the distant future, the most dangerous criminals are tossed into another dimension where they are left to rot. The weaker of them become these Dark Spectres. The stuff of nightmares, they seek to inhabit a form that is as close to their original one as possible. The only way to truly defeat them is to use this Cress Crystal, it dissolves their forms and returns them from where they came. The Genesis Ultrazord just forced it out of its occupied form, although to save you the trouble I can amend that in time."

"Awww, what?" Luke asked, shocked. "If that's true, how screwed are we?"

"Good thing I've got another gift for you then," Dorlinda said, tossing the Cress Crystal across to Katie. "I have a theory that when Dennis returned to this time zone, he took a detour straight through the prison dimension. Allowing some of them to escape to this time and place. Sorry to tell you this, but it looks like it falls to you all to get them back."  
"Man..." Paige complained. "Like we've not already got enough to worry about."

"Dorlinda," Duo said, quickly. "You said that the weaker of the criminals become Dark Spectres. What about the stronger ones? If they retain their regular form, will the Cress Crystal stop them?"

"Actually..." the Lord of Time admitted, suddenly looking sheepish. "I have no idea. It's pretty much unheard of that the stronger ones escape. It usually is the smaller ones that slip through gaps in reality."

"Bring back the Coppingers," Katie groaned. "This is getting ridiculous."

* * *

"It just never gets easier, huh," Ryan commented, as the seven of them walked out onto the bridge of the Silver Gyarados. "Although we didn't see any Coppingers in this instance, plus it's easy to forget about the Cobras. We still have to deal with them. And now with those Dark Spectres as well..."

"All in the life of a ranger," Duo said, shrugging his shoulders with disdain. "It's not going to get any easier."

"Guess we'll just have to keep fighting," Katie offered. "We can't do anything else. We keep on fighting, we'll soon run out of opponents to beat."

"Interesting philosophy to take," Luke remarked. "What if it never ends? What if they keep on coming and we drop from exhaustion?"

"Could you be any more negative?" Nahir asked, shooting an annoyed look at him. "That's not going to happen. How many spectres could have gotten through here? Bill?"

"Errr..." the PokéManiac replied, looking up from where he had been sat. "I scanned at least six. But, there's probably not more than ten. Probably."

"Love it when you go into so much vague detail," Paige said, sarcastically. "It really helps us all out."

"Whereas sarcasm is the absolute epitome of usefulness," Xavier commented.

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Yeah...**

**No rest for the wicked. Or even the rangers.**

**Remember the Dialga Carrier? Thought I'd bring it back. Makes it the only Zord to appear in all three fics.**

**And on the Dark Spectres. There are only about ten or so of them here, but it is an idea that will be built on in Season Four.**

**So, yeah, thanks for the reviews.**

**Ironic actually. We've just had a crossover, and there will be the appearance of five veteran rangers in the next two parter. Which is just after the next chapter. But, who... Hint hint, they're not all from the same region. We've got three from Hoenn, one from Holon and one from Lost Zone. And three of them haven't appeared in this series before. Two of them have. But which...**

**Anyway, on that, the next one is entitled A Yellow Impostor. Preview below. Don't know when it'll be up.**

**Errr... Can't really think of too much more.**

**So, thanks for reading. Errr... Duo can reply today. Seen as how the chapter was kinda half focused on him. Don't forget to review.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Thirty Two, A Yellow Impostor, preview.**

**Lance: There's another reading there. You see it?**

**Nahir: I'll go check it out. See what I can find.**

**?: Yours shall be the perfect way of getting to the artefacts...**

**Nahir: Hey, wait a second!**

**Bill: You find anything?**

**?: Nothing.**

**Nahir: Let me out of here! I'm innocent!**

**Luke: You're not Nahir!**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	32. The Yellow Impostor

Chapter Thirty Two. The Yellow Impostor.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_After returning to the present day from their trials in the future, the rangers began to try and shift back into their day to day routine. A routine that was compromised when Bill caught the arrival of the spectral beings on camera. As the rangers investigated the crash site, Xavier went off on a date with Christy, while Duo also went to do his own thing. As Xavier met up with his date at Ocean World, he saw the Giant Octillery there. The creature quickly becoming host to one of the spectres, transforming into Octomius, a galactic slaver. With little hesitation, he captured Xavier, Christy and the other rangers with his weapon, only for Duo to arrive on the scene and use his invisibility to rescue them. However, Octomius still proved to be tough. Even the Megazords were unable to stand against him, prompting the arrival of Dorlinda with the Dialga Carrier Mk. 2. Using the new Zord, the rangers formed the Genesis Ultrazord and blasted their enemy, before Dorlinda revealed what exactly they were facing. Moving back to the Silver Gyarados with the Cress Crystal, the rangers slowly began to feel the weight of their task crushing down on them..._

_

* * *

_

"Okay, on my signal move in!"

The voice coming out through the headset, the four figures hearing the command instantly all began to reply in the positive.

"Affirmative."  
"Roger that."

"We hear ya, Commander."

"Ready to go."

"The target is in the cabin at the end of the cabin," the stern voice said. "We have satellite pictures that show she is alone. Take her alive. It is vitally important that you do."

"We know that, Commander," the second speaker remarked. "We won't fail this. If she's as dangerous as..."

"There may well be trip alarms. Tread carefully, remember your training..."

"We never trained for this," the third voice pointed out, slightly annoyed. "Now, we're crawling across land mines."

"I heavily doubt that there are land mines. Our satellite would have picked them up. What you have to worry about is alarms. You don't need her alerted. If that happens, she'll panic and do something stupid. Just take it calm and steady."

"Okay, I know it's been a while, people," the first speaker said, leading from the front. All four figures wearing black camouflage suits and face masks, they quickly began to head for the solitary light of the cabin ahead of them. "But, we need to get her. Quickly."

The orders leaving the rest of the team in silence, they quickly dropped into a crouching position and began to move across the ground.

* * *

Barely ten minutes later, the four of them found themselves at the cabin entrance, all ready to take action.

"I know it's not what we've been doing lately," the second speaker offered. "But, it's a blast to the past. Just remember the..."

"Hey, I'm in charge for this," the first speaker said, angrily. "Just..."

"Well, this is going well," the third speaker commented. "Wondered how long it'd be before..."

"Guys, not the time," the fourth speaker offered. "We need to..."

"Light's dimmed," the second speaker said, glancing at the window. "She knows that we're here. Time to rock and roll."

Jumping up, the first speaker barrelled against the door and forced it through. Immediately coming up against the large figure of a black and purple coloured figure, with the head of a Misdreavous.

"Okay," the third speaker remarked, stood behind the first figure, before ripping his mask off. Shaking his hair out, Luke couldn't help but let out the quip. "Misdrabeings. Never expected those to be here."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord and North Wind Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

"Where are these things coming from?" Xavier wondered, tossing one of the Misdrabeings back through the window of the cabin, the glass shattering under the force of the impact.

"Don't know," Katie replied, sending another staggering back against its allies with a powerful kick to the stomach. "But, I guess it's not good."

"You want my opinion?" Nahir asked, striding past them. Through the few demonic henchmen, she soon spotted the source, a pentagram on the ground. The lines around it still crackling with a bright blue energy, the edges still smoked from the energy that had been given off earlier. "Think that might have something to do with it."

"Look at that," Luke remarked, sarcastically. "Not just a pretty face, huh?"

"Do you have to turn back into an insufferable moron because we're back with SDI again?" she asked, jerking her head around to hear the sound of glass shattering ahead of her. "Never mind."

"She's getting away!" Katie yelled, the robed shape of the figure that they had come to capture. "Someone..."

Before she could continue, a foot swept up and hit her in the stomach. Growling in anger, she quickly super-heated up her skin, the Misdrabeing instantly bursting into flames at the rising temperature.

"Someone get her!" Xavier shouted, Nahir already moving towards the broken window. Activating her enhanced speed, she quickly tore through the hole.

* * *

Taking a staggering step across the moors, the robed woman suddenly saw Nahir appear in front of her.

"Going somewhere?" the yellow ranger asked, folding her arms. "Because, I can't let you..."

Without hesitating at her way being blocked, the figure reached out under her robes and brought a ceremonial knife up. Hurling it towards Nahir, the ranger quickly dodged it with another burst of speed. Not letting up, Nahir sped in to fight her at close quarters. Spinning around into a kick, she managed to force her down. Only for the woman to rise up and throw a punch, something that the yellow ranger easily dodged. Glancing down, she saw that one of her hands had an Ariados tattoo upon it, the ink moving away on up the arm.

Wow, she thought, taking out one of her foes legs with a downward sweep kick. I never knew that fighting humans was so much easier than tangling with Misdrabeings, Dogbots and the like.

Even as she was recovering to launch another attack, the woman managed to throw out a head butt from her bag of moves. With Nahir's leg coming up, the blow caught her in the ankle, an almost crippling pain exploding up through her leg. Falling to the ground, it was all she could do to bring her good leg up and kick the figure in the side.

"Nahir!"

Glancing up, several pinpoint accurately directed rocks came sailing through the air and struck her attacker in the upper body and face. Instantly dropping her, the next thing that Nahir saw was Luke running towards her.

"You okay?"

* * *

"Well, that was a good nights work," Luke said, sarcastically. "Thought we were out of SDI for good."

"Yeah, you know what thought did," Nahir pointed out, rubbing her ankle while grimacing in pain. "Wasn't it in the agreement that we signed that we could be called out again if we were needed."

"Correct," the voice of Commander Bristow replied, coming out into the makeshift hut, their former commanding officer dressed in military fatigues. "Can't believe you didn't pick up on that, Luke."

"I never thought that it would happen," the purple ranger protested. "So, how come you needed us for the job. Couldn't your military grade commandos do the job here?"

"We didn't know if Da Silva had actually managed to acquire the knowledge to resurrect a demon," Bristow said. "The four of you were still in Verger... Getting you over here made sense. Of course, I'll now have to ask you for the morphers back."

"Sure," Katie replied. "Guess you'll be heading to take her in. Whoever she is."

"Zahia Da Silva," Bristow replied, not really seeing the need to hide anything. "Gang leader in Holimar City. We heard that somehow she came into contact with a book, a book that we believe may reveal a way to resurrect the demons. Which is why you needed to come and get her. We'll take her to our new complex and see what she knows. Either way, you all came through. Congratulations."

Not really taking any of it in, Luke glanced over to Nahir. The yellow ranger still gingerly favouring her wounded ankle, he felt the need to move on over and ask her about it.

"Well," Nahir replied. "I've had this problem a few times. On the whole, it doesn't really give me a problem. When I was thirteen, I broke my ankle in two places. Sometimes, if I take a huge whack on it, it still hurts like hell."

"Ah, I see," Luke replied, an accepting look on his face. "So, how'd you break it?"

"Fell down a crevice."

"That was clumsy, wasn't it?"

* * *

"Man, I'm exhausted," Xavier groaned, the four of them heading back out onto the bridge of the Silver Gyarados. "That was a nice blast to the past, but it takes it out of you."

"Is this a good time to point something out?" Lance asked, looking at them. "There another reading there. You see it?"  
"Another reading?" Luke asked. "What sort of reading are we talking about?"

"The alien kind," Bill offered. "Duo, Paige and Ryan had to go clear out a Dogbot attack in Agueros Town. So, you guys..."

"I'll go check it out," Nahir offered. "See what I can find. I'm in the zone right now, I'll take the Cress Crystal. No problem."

"This from someone who was complaining at a leg injury not too long ago," Luke commented. "Seriously?"

"Just trying to work it off," the yellow ranger replied, reaching over to take the Cress Crystal up from where it lay on one of the consoles. "You got a problem with that?"

"Your choice," he remarked. "Go for it. You'll save us all the trouble."

* * *

Jumping off her Hover Chaser, Nahir found herself in what appeared to be an abandoned school yard. An old slide sat rusting across from her, along with a set of mangled swings, and the grass was covered in weeds. Looking around, she could see that the closest building appeared to be abandoned as well.

"Nice place," she muttered, calmly gripping the Cress Crystal in her hand. "Now, where is this thing?"

Taking another step forward, she heard a rustling in the bushes behind her. Spinning around, she felt something crash into her front, hurling her back. Realising almost instantly that this wasn't a Dark Spectre, the attacker being solid. Looking up, she saw a strange pink skinned Gardevoir creature wearing a blue cape stood above her. Not hesitating, Nahir jumped up and charged towards her attacker. Ready to strike her down, the creature remained impassive until the last moment when it snatched her up by the throat. Not willing to give up, Nahir brought the Cress Crystal up and smacked it against her chest. Promptly realising that nothing was happening.

"Hey, wait a second!" the yellow ranger exclaimed, shocked that the crystal wasn't working. "That's not right!"

"I am Infiltra," she smirked. "And your crystal won't stop me. When I was sent to the Prison Zone, I managed to retain my body."

Throwing her arm out in a graceful swipe, she easily tossed Nahir back through the air, the yellow ranger hitting a tree behind her. Sliding to the ground in pain, Nahir barely managed to move again before Infiltra was on her. One hand closed around her throat, the surface of the creature's skin starting to glow with a blue energy. As it took place, the yellow ranger felt a strange passiveness flood through her entire body, rendering her unable to fight back. Even as the sensation vanished away, Infiltra began to change. As she watched the creature transform into an exact replica of her, Nahir couldn't help but gasp in shock.

"What... Are you?"

Without hesitating, Infiltra reached down and plucked the morpher from the yellow ranger's wrist.

"Already told you, dear," she said, her voice slowly adapting from her own to a copy of the one that Nahir knew so well. "I am Infiltra. One of the finest assasins that the galaxy has known. I am an exact replica of you. DNA some memories, voice, characteristics..."

Rolling her eyes, Nahir almost managed to twist out of the grip and hit Infiltra in the stomach with a fist. Only for the replica to evade it and hit back with a reverse of the attack, only for the attack to strike her in the spine.

"... Fighting style as well, by the looks of it," Infiltra continued. "Handy. Mix of yours and mine. You know how I operate?"

When no answer came, she carried on with her speech.

"I take the form of someone close to the target. Much like I've done to you. Then, I get rid of them temporarily, run off and do the job. As soon as it's over, the other guy gets the blame. Brilliant, right?"

"So, who are you trying to get to now?" Nahir demanded. "And why me?"

"Oh, nothing," she replied, calmly. "But, these Genesis artefacts sound quite interesting. Very interesting indeed."

"You're not getting them," the yellow ranger warned, jumping back up. "I'll stop you."

"Will you?" Infiltra demanded, her eyes glowing with a bright blue energy. The psychic wave halting Nahir in the middle of her movement, the creature waved her hand. "I steal forms. You think I don't know how to get rid of my double? And..."

Pausing, she waved her hand again. And Nahir vanished out of sight, completely being removed from view.

"Yours shall be the perfect way of getting to the artefacts..."

* * *

Whistling slightly, Infiltra walked out onto the bridge of the boat that she knew to be called the Silver Gyarados. Seeing several people inside, the brief set of memories that she had taken from Nahir telling her that their names were Bill, Lance, Luke and Paige. The one known as Bill moved to greet her, opening his mouth to speak.

"You find anything?" the PokéManiac asked, glancing up at Infiltra. "Anything of note? The Cress Crystal work?"

"Nothing," she replied. "Thought I saw something, but it got away before I could tag it. Unfortunately."

"Tag it?" Luke asked, a strange look on his face. "How'd it get away?"

"Floated off really fast," Infiltra said, scanning her memories for information on Luke. How best to distract him. "How are you, Luke? Any interesting anecdotes from the world of business that you want to reveal?"

"Actually, now that you ask..."

* * *

Groaning in pain, Nahir opened her eyes. Her sight momentarily blurred, she quickly began to blink several times and clear her sight.

"Where am I?" she groaned. A split second before she brought a hand to her mouth, the realisation that her voice wasn't normal hitting her like a rock to the face. Jumping up, she instantly let out a groan at the pain in her side. Moving up to her feet, she brought a hand up to scratch at her nose. Letting out a start as she saw the black Ariados tattoo across the skin, snaking up the arm.

"Holy crap!" she whispered, turning to take in her surroundings for the first time. Three white walls around her, completed by a large clear plastic wall ahead of her. Rather than her usual frame and attire, she was now taller and more heavyset while clad in an orange jumpsuit. Moving over to the transparent wall, she saw a mirror on the other side, revealing her to be the woman that she and the other former SDI rangers had captured several hours earlier. The spiked purple and black hair and the nose ring confirming it, Nahir already bringing her hands up to bang on the wall.

"Let me out of here!" she screamed. "I'm innocent."

When no response came, she carried on hitting the plastic. Hoping that the sound would attract someone. Someone who could believe her story.

* * *

"You okay, Nahir?"

The question came from the one called Katie. A strange look on her face as she looked over to the impostor.

"Why do you ask?" Infiltra replied, leaning back in her chair to stare down the red ranger. "What's up?"

"You just seem... distracted."

"Maybe I am a little distracted," Infiltra admitted. Not altogether being dishonest. "There is something on my mind. Something private that I need to do at some point. But, I'll sort it out eventually."

"Whatever it is," Xavier offered from across the room. "Just go get it off your chest. Why not?"

"Guess I might do," the fake yellow ranger mused. "No time like the present, right?"

"That's the spirit," Ryan called. "Go for it!"

* * *

"Hey, shut up in there!"

Looking across to the open door at the end of the cell block, Nahir saw a heavyset man in a prison guards uniform glance in. The figure giving her a look of pure hatred.

"Man, you've got to let me out!" she yelled. "I'm innocent. Completely!"

"Yeah, right!" he sneered. "That's what they all say!"

"I mean it though!" Nahir screamed. "I need to talk to the guy who brought me in. Commander Robert Bristow! Please!"

"Sorry, love," the guard smirked. "You're no longer in SDI custody now. He handed you over, he no longer has anything to do with what happens to you. Enjoy the cell, you're going to be seeing it for a very long time."

"Look man, you've got to believe me. Something's stolen my form and it's currently out there on the loose. I'm not Zahia Da Silva!"

"Well, that's an original excuse," he commented. "But, it's still not good enough. You're going away for a very long time. Crazy psycho bitch."

"Hey!"

"Awww, I hurt your feelings?" he asked, a cruel sneer on his face. "Good. At least here, you won't hurt anyone else."

"Please, I need to talk to Commander Bristow!" Nahir repeated, again almost screaming her lungs out. "It's desperately important."

"Sorry, no can do."

And with that, the door closed. Leaving the trapped yellow ranger alone in the cell.

* * *

Taking a step out onto the bridge, Infiltra glanced around her surroundings. Seeing only Bill there, the PokéManiac asleep at his console. The safe where the artefacts were hidden ever so close to her, she began to move across to it. Already plucking the combination out of her head, ready to grab them and run...

Only for the alarms to explode into action, causing her to freeze on the spot. Bill rising up from his slumber to look at the screens.

"Monster attack," he shouted, running over to the microphone. "All rangers report to the bridge, right..."

Half turning his head, he saw Infiltra stood in the middle of the room, a shifty look on her face.

"Somehow knew you'd win the race up here," he remarked. "With the speed and all."

"Yeah..." Infiltra replied, slowly. "That's right. That's how I got here."

Even as she shot the nervous grin at Bill, the two of them were interrupted by the arrival of the other rangers into the room.

"Ah," Bill said. "Looks like we have an attack downtown. A Cobra attack. They've risen up out of their holes, if you want me to use that expression."

"The Cobras?" Infiltra asked, rummaging out into her memory. Finding what she needed, she quickly turned back to everyone else. "Yeah, that sounds like a laugh. Let's go for it."

"Someone seems enthusiastic," Ryan remarked. "Wish all of us were that..."

"Never mind that," Paige said. "Since it's the Cobras, you need me along? Or can you guys..."

"Paige, stay here just in case," Katie ordered. "If it gets bad..."

"Such confidence," the white ranger smirked. "Okay, good luck guys."

"Genesis Overload!" Katie yelled, the five other rangers quickly making to activate their morphers. Going for her own, Infiltra managed to just barely copy it, the combination of Nahir's memories and what she saw getting her through it.

That was when she transformed, her DNA being a match for the real yellow ranger meaning that she had no problems morphing into the ranger costume.

"Let's do it," she smirked, her expression not visible under the helmet. "Right now."

* * *

"Ah, look at that," Cobra Red remarked, the six Cobras glancing around to see the regular Poke Rangers approach the scene. "Our nemeses show up."

"How about that," Cobra Blue commented, folding his arms. "Still predictable."

"We're the predictable ones?" Luke demanded. "How about you guys? You're the ones who show up, all six of you at once. Never once thought about splitting us up, sending us all across region."

"Don't give them ideas," Xavier groaned. "Have you lost your mind?"

"You want him to answer that question?" Duo wondered. "Because..."

"Hey, if you're going to insult me," Luke replied. "Can you at least..."

"Attack!" Cobra Black snarled, the six evil rangers racing across to attack their counterparts.

"Oh well, at least there was a slight warning," Katie remarked, already jumping up to kick Cobra Red in the face.

* * *

Faced with the rampaging sight of Cobra Yellow, Infiltra couldn't help but smirk. Was this yellow armoured figure really the only problem that she had to face?

"I'll snap you into two," the evil ranger hissed, moving in to strike away. Her arms coming up, probably faster than the regular Nahir would have been able to see. Still smirking, Infiltra spun away out of reach and kicked Cobra Yellow in the side. As the evil ranger doubled over in discomfort, Infiltra dropped down onto her hands and flipped away into the figure of Cobra Yellow, hurling her back. As the evil ranger hit the ground, Infiltra carried on and kicked her across the ground. Even as Cobra Yellow leaped up to strike back, Infiltra flipped back away from her reach before bringing her Genesis Blaster up and shot her several times.

"That should do you," she remarked, seeing the Cobra drop the ground. The sparks erupting up from her armour, Infiltra was shocked to see her get back up.

"What the...?"

"Where the heck have you been?" Luke demanded. "It's going to take way more than that to destroy one of these things."

"Good thing I'm just getting warmed up then," Infiltra commented, already moving to attack again.

* * *

Across from them, in another section of the street, Katie was fighting against Cobra Red. The evil ranger bringing his hand up, he sent a barrage of Poison Sting attacks towards her. Not hesitating, Katie brought both Heat Blasters up and started firing to block them.

"You're starting to annoy me," she warned, dropping both weapons back into their holster. "Think it's time for round two. Hunter Glider!"

As the vehicle in question came swooping down, Katie leaped up into the air to secure herself in. Her morpher glowing with a red light, light that transformed into energy that washed over and across her, soon metamorphising into flames. Flames that quickly faded away, as the transformation began. The red energy at her morpher spreading out across her body, she momentarily transformed into a living rendition of a Charizard. Similar to the way that she did when morphing into her Zord form, it only lasted for a second before she returned back to ranger form. Only with some new armour visible, the Charizard's head remaining, her helmet within its mouth with the rest of the face surrounding it. The wings of the Hunter Glider became part of her body, taking on the constitution of Charizard wings. Under her suit, her muscles grew larger, while a cream coloured oval formed on her stomach. Across her chest, a metallic silver band came across, while her gloves and boots hardened and grew claws at the end. The claws on her gloves extended out over her fingers as she landed and took a fighting stance.

"Red Hunter Ranger!" she shouted, already charging towards Cobra Red. "I've had enough of you!"

Growling in anger, he spun around on the spot to try and kick her back. Seeing the attack coming, Katie flew up into the air to evade, her claws already extending out as she swooped back down to retaliate.

"Hunter Slash!"

Whipping away against his chest, the claws dug in deep through the armour. As Cobra Red roared in agony, she gave another command to really increase the pressure up on her evil counterpart.

"Hunter Beam!"

At her order, the multicoloured beam of energy erupted from the visor, hurling Cobra Red back through the air. As he crashed against the building across from her, the other evil rangers began to crowd back around their fallen leader.

"This isn't over," Cobra Purple snarled. "We will have our revenge. Soon, we will destroy you all."

"We're right here!" Ryan yelled. "Come and have a go if you think you've got it!"

"Soon, Green Ranger!" Cobra Green laughed. "Soon."

With those words hanging away in the air, the six of them vanished from view. Leaving six puzzled rangers alone in the street.

"Anyone else wonder why they just did that?" Katie asked. "Why they just made a random attack and then vanished."

"I don't know," Xavier commented. "But, I think it'd be so much easier if we all had Battlizers. Then they'd be easier to beat."

"That's kinda missing the point of Battlizers," Duo pointed out. "Besides, don't you have one?"

"Had one," Xavier replied. "I don't have my SDI morpher any more. Can't summon it without that."

"True."

* * *

Looking up, Nahir heard the door at the end of the otherwise empty cell block opening up. A figure suddenly appearing in front of her, something that she hadn't quite expected. What made it so much worse that it was her own visage that appeared her in front of her.

"Well," Infiltra commented, leaning against the plastic, her voice managing to travel through the air holes. "You seem comfortable. Nice digs."

"Very funny," Nahir snapped, getting up from her bed. "Let me out. Now!"

"Say please," the creature wearing her face smirked. "And I might consider it. Nice surroundings that you keep. Love the powers. Especially the suit. Fits in all the right places, surprised you've never noticed that."

"When I get out of here..." Nahir warned, almost seething at the comment. Anger that was clearly reflected in her features, her teeth were bared and her pupils dilated. "... I will hunt you down and end you. I don't care how long it takes!"

"You rangers are resourceful," Infiltra said. "But, the only way you're getting out of that body is when I remove you. Because that's what I did. You're the only one at home in there, the regular occupant is AWOL. Your body... Just under her skin. For all intents and purposes, you're possessing her."

"Makes no difference," the yellow ranger growled. "I'm not going to..."

"But if you're going to be like that, I might just leave you there," Infiltra remarked. "It'd save me a whole lot of trouble. Plus, I could keep your form forever. Ditch your friends, find those who would pay for my services..."  
"I'm not going to stop trying to escape from here," Nahir warned. "So, you might as well..."

"Oh gee," Infiltra taunted, her voice incredibly sarcastic. "Wish I could deal with that. Oh wait..."

Still smirking at Nahir, with the face that the yellow ranger had seen so often, she continued to speak.

"... Unless I remove you from there, I reckon that you've got the best part of two days left. That's how long I can leave someone in there for. Then, the regular personality will take over and you'll be gone forever."

"You bitch!"

"Don't hate me," Infiltra said. "Just because you currently aren't me."

"I'll kill you!" Nahir screamed, hurling herself at the plastic. Only for the fake yellow ranger to vanish away in a burst of speed. Screaming out in fury, she started to smash her fists against the plastic, desperately hoping that it would do some good.

* * *

Whistling slightly as she walked out onto the bridge, Infiltra was pleased to find it empty. Nobody there, meaning that she could finally accomplish her task. With nobody to stop her, the chances of her grabbing the artefacts were much increased. There for the taking. Not even hesitating, she walked across to the safe and began to key in the combo. Seconds later, it was open, the artefacts there. Scooping them up, she quickly turned away...

... And saw Luke stood watching her.

"Ah," she said, blanching at the sight of him. "What are you..."

"Looking for the local pawn shop, huh?" he asked, folding his arms. "Really? That's what all this is about?"

"Luke..." she replied, her voice dropping slightly. "It's not..."

"You're not Nahir!" the purple ranger spat. "You're not fooling me."

"Pity," Infiltra replied, her tone suddenly changing to a smug inflection. "My deception worked so well up until this point. What gave me away? Apart from the obvious thing here."

"A few trace things," Luke answered. "The way you described the Dark Spectre escaping earlier. Nahir wouldn't have let it go. She's pretty fast, she'd have been on it before it could get away. Plus, I've never heard her use the word tag on something before. Two, some of your gestures were wrong in the morph earlier. Not miles wrong, but just slightly..."

"You were really watching her, huh?" Infiltra smirked. "Anything else?"

"The fighting style gave some more of it away," Luke answered. "I've never seen her fight like that before."

"Ah... Guess my enthusiasm got the better of me," she groaned. "Rookie mistake. Not one that I should be making."

"Might want to start talking," Luke warned, still barely concealing his anger. "Because..."

Ignoring him, she made to move. Activating her enhanced speed, she prepared to sweep gracefully past him before he was aware that she had gone...

... Only to smash into an invisible barrier, the unseen wall hurling her back onto the bridge. As she landed on her back, she saw the smug smirk on Luke's face.

"What the...?" she demanded, struggling to sit up. "What was that?"

"Guess that's another thing that proves you're not her," he said. "Not that I need it right now. Telekinetic barrier. You've clearly got her speed, you really think I'm going to ignore that?"

"Interesting," she remarked. "Handy ability."

"So, who are you?" he asked. "And where's the real Nahir?"

"She attacked me," Infiltra replied. "I defended myself. Took her form and some of her memories. Saw the Genesis artefacts, thought that I could make something off them."

"You've made this all about money?" he said, shocked. "Those... I mean... You can't put a price on those artefacts. What they do."

"Actually, I think that some people out there would be willing to pay top dollar for the ability to reshape the world. In my book, that's a whole lot of zeros."

"Where is she?" he growled, shooting her a dirty look. "The real Nahir?"

"Locked away somewhere you won't find her," Infiltra said, lightly. "And, if you want her back, lower your barrier and let me go."

"Like that's going to happen."

Spinning around, Infiltra saw Paige behind her. The white ranger's fist came up and the impostor immediately hit the ground, slumping away into an unconscious state.

"Good hit," Luke remarked, shrugging his shoulders. "You took your time."

"Needed to be sure, didn't we?" Paige replied. "Being able to walk through walls is handy in sneaking up on people."

"You're not wrong," he said. "Guess we better find out where the real Nahir is before we work on icing her. We don't know anything about these things, there's no guarantee that destroying her will bring Nahir back."

"Icing her?" Paige asked. "When did you become all gangster?"

Not bothering to reply to her, the purple ranger began to stride across the room and start the lengthy process of dragging Infiltra away.

* * *

Letting out a groan of pain, Infiltra began to slowly open her eyes up. Seeing the watching figures of the other rangers looking at her, she quickly began to fade them back shut again. Hoping to fool them...

... Only for a hand to reach down on her face, the scorching sensation ripping through her being. Almost leaping out of her chair in agony, Infiltra found herself secured in place. Seeing the reaction from the prisoner, Katie took a quick step back.

"Good," she remarked. "You're awake."

"What the hell was that for?" Infiltra demanded, making a conscious choice to try and slip back into the Nahir persona. Her best option of getting out of this. "What's going on? Why am I tied to a chair?"

"You know why," Luke muttered. "Where's the real Nahir?"

"The real...?" Infiltra started to ask, a worried look on her face. "I am the real Nahir. She switched back with me. Guys, I'm really scared right now."

"You think that's possible?" Xavier asked. "Whatever this thing is switched back with her? So we're... Eep."

"Oh come on," Luke said, rolling his eyes. "You guys aren't seriously buying this, are you?"

"Luke, you're insane," Infiltra remarked, shooting him a doe eyed look of innocence. "Come on, you have to believe me."

Taking a deep breath, the purple ranger took a step closer to her.  
"Maybe..." he said, still moving ever closer to the bound impostor. "Maybe I was wrong. Maybe you are back. And if you are, I apologise."  
"Your apology is already accepted," Infiltra replied, mentally rubbing her hands together. At what she was going to do to them when she got out of the chair.

"Although, there is one thing that you should keep in mind," Luke remarked, leaning down in front of her. His face level with hers. "Keep your story straight."

That was when his fist came up. Even as she saw it coming, Infiltra realised that he had the Cress Crystal in his grasp, the pointed edge through the gaps in his fingers to form a crude knuckle duster. Even as the full force of the blow hit her, she was thrown backwards, a stream of blood running down her forehead.

"Let me guess how it played out," he said, angrily picking her and the chair back up. Only to hit her the point of the Crystal again, smashing her back to the ground. "You caught her blind. She tried to stop you with this..."

Moving around to the back of her, the purple ranger pushed the bound Infiltra back up into a sitting position.

"... It didn't work. You took her form and got rid of her."

Again, his clenched fist came up and smashed her around the already bruising face. This time she didn't fall backwards, the creature instead giving the purple ranger a filthy look through the blood dripping across her eyes.

"So where is she?"

"Is it worth anyone telling him to calm down?" Ryan wondered. "Or...?"

"I wouldn't bother," Katie replied. "He's stressed. Worried. And we need to find out..."

Once again, Luke hit the creature in front of him. This time, Infiltra let out a shatter of laughter at his efforts, spitting blood out at his feet.

"Is that the best you can do?" she demanded. "Hit me with your Cress Crystal and hope to get lucky. I already told her that it's not going to affect me. No matter what you do, it's not going to happen."

"Any way at all that you're going to talk?" he asked. "Because..."

"Nope," Infiltra replied. "I'm not going to do that. That weapon can't kill me, but it doesn't mean that I won't die if you unleash your full power on me. Her 'Battlizer' for example. Once I reveal that, you will destroy me. I've seen it time and time before, negotiating from a weakened position."

"And if we let you go, how do we know that you'll keep your end of the agreement?" Xavier demanded. "See our dilemma?"

"We're not going to get this sorted any time soon," Bill remarked, folding his arms. "Unless you have a suggestion."

"Actually, I do," Infiltra offered, a smirk on her face. "I have a happy medium. A way that we can work this out. I shoved her somewhere. I can take you to her. Once you see for yourself that she's fine, then I start to walk. When I'm far away enough, I release her. Happy?"

"I'm happy to make this deal," Katie said, quickly. "But, only if we're all on board."

"Excuse me?" Paige asked. "What are you...?"

"Think about it, guys," Katie replied, looking around them. "We need Nahir. The real Nahir if we're going to get done what we need to do."

"This thing doesn't deserve to live," Luke snarled. "Even if you leave now, I will hunt you down. You're not going to get away with this."

"Are you willing to deal?" she asked, flashing a sweet smile at him. "Or..."

"Take us to her!" he snapped. "Now!"

* * *

"Getting in here was a whole lot easier last time," Infiltra complained, moving through the security point. Xavier and Luke stood right behind her, the blue ranger holding a Genesis Blaster to her back. Thanks to the pass supplied by Commander Bristow, they'd managed to avoid being caught up for too long, none of them even questioning the weapon that had been brought in. Xavier having explained it away as a prototype for something else, he had managed to get away with just some strange looks. "When I ran past them. That's the real way to..."

"We don't have that though," Xavier pointed out. "You might be faster than a speeding bullet, but you really think you can get away before he slams you into a wall with his mind and I blast you several times?"

"I guess we'll never really know," Infiltra replied, sarcastically turning towards a pair of double doors on the left of the trio. "So, she's right through there."

"High security?" Luke asked, glancing at the sign above the door. "You put her in there?"

"She's a big girl," Infiltra sneered. "Can take care of herself. At least she can now. Let's just hope that we're not too late..."

As her voice tailed off, she half tripped on the floor, crashing into the wall. As she let out a yelp of pain, Luke rolled his eyes and began to whistle a toneless quick tune in disdain for her.

"Hey, that's not part of the deal," she complained. "That you can do that."

"Think you ought to watch where you're going," Luke commented, dryly.

* * *

"Well, look at that," Xavier remarked, the three figures settling in front of the cage. Fresh from walking past the slumbering guard, they now found themselves gazing at the visage of the criminal they had done their best to bring in earlier for SDI. "If nothing else, you've got imagination."  
"Xavier," the figure on the other side of the plastic said, jumping up. "Come on... You've got to... Luke, tell me that you..."

"Good to see you too," Luke remarked, placing a hand on the plastic. "Nice tats."

"Excuse me?"

"Tattoos."

"Oh, right," she said. "So, you know it's me?"

"Apparently so," Xavier remarked, shrugging his shoulders. "What date did we meet? The five of us originally?"

"19th March 2010," Nahir replied. "First time we met, first time we morphed..."

"All the confirmation I need," Xavier said, looking at Infiltra. "Get her out of whatever you did to her, and..."

"We had a deal," Infiltra answered, moving away from the two of them. "I'm walking..."

"Wait, you're going to..." Luke started to say, making a move towards her. "Let her go. Let her out of that body."  
"Of course," Infiltra said, glancing at the body that Nahir inhabited. Her arm glowing with a bright blue energy, she hurled the wave of energy towards Nahir. The blast hitting her square in the stomach, the real form of Nahir quickly appeared, flying back from Zahia Da Silva's own body. Hitting the wall, the yellow ranger let out a grunt of pain, slowly trying to recover her composure...

... Only for the demon worshipper to round on her with a frenzied howl of pain and go for the throat. Her fingers arched in a threatening way, she leaped towards Nahir.

"Holy crap," Xavier yelled, instantly realising that Infiltra had planned it. To a certain degree, she had to have done, the assassin trickier than any of them had expected. Already, she had streaked away, using the super speed that she had inherited from Nahir.

"Bitch!" Luke howled, already taking a futile step after her. Spinning around in anger, he unleashed the full power of his mind against the back of Da Silva, flattening her against the wall next to Nahir. "Damnit!"

Dropping down onto his hands and knees, he began to beat the ground in frustration. He remained this way until Nahir finally spoke up.

"Think you can get someone to let me out?"

* * *

"That was just..." Nahir began to say, looking across the ocean. The three of them having returned to the Silver Gyarados and reunited with the other rangers. "... Eurgh. Still creeps me out just the thought of her wandering around here. Touching my stuff."

"Heh," Luke replied, stood next to her. His hand across the top of hers, something she had reacted to with bemusement at first, before offering him a smile. "She was a poor Nahir. You're the better one. Can't beat the original."

"Aww," she said. "That's... Not a compliment I thought that I'd ever here."

"Lives that we live, huh?"

"That's true," the yellow ranger remarked. "It's become too much of a cliché to say that being rangers forces us into these strange circumstances."

"You're not wrong," he commented. "Just... Part of me wishes that we'd been able to get Infiltra. Put her down."

"Sometimes, life is awash with second chances," Nahir said. "We might get a second shot at her. If not, then..."

"True," he replied, grimacing. "When I worked it out... That she wasn't you, that she was what she was... I was so angry. And so worried for you. What kind of fresh hell you're going through... You could have been dead and I wouldn't have known. Wouldn't have been able to hold your hand, smile at you despite the moment... Would never have known what had happened to you."

"You really care that much?" she asked, turning to look at him. Her face inches from his, a weak smile across her as she returned the smile to him. "About me?"

"For a while," he said, dead serious. "I've thought of nothing else. Well, you and ranger duty. But, that doesn't have the same ring to it. But, you get the idea."

"For all your swagger and bluster," she replied, still smiling at him. "You really are cute when you're nervous."

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Yeah... Hope that wasn't a letdown.**

**So, everything's fine. Next one gets interesting though.**

**And also, Infiltra got away. Will she be seen again? Who knows?**

**However, I'm taking a break. Probably won't update for about a week. Probably. I'm going to work on something else, feel free to read it, and I will be back with this at some point. Hopefully with some new verve for it, because I've been struggling to get through writing chapters lately. Think I just need a break, I've pretty much been writing for the genre ever since January.**

**Thanks for the reviews. They're all appreciated.**

**The next one... As said earlier, it probably won't be up for a while. But, it's entitled Two Years Later: Part One. And the preview is below.**

**So... Nothing much other than see you all again soon.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review. Nahir is replying for this one.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Thirty Three, Two Years Later: Part One, preview.**

**Katie: This is getting to me.**

**Duo: Cheer up.**

**Katie: I mean it... Seriously, I don't know how much longer I can keep this up.**

**Clarence: You're giving up?**

**Katie: I don't know...**

**Clarence: Do you know what will happen if you give up?**

**Katie: Where am I?**

**Dennis: Welcome to my world!**

**?: I am Black Phoenix.**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	33. Two Years Later: Part One

Chapter Thirty Three. Two Years Later: Part One.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_In the aftermath of the appearance of the first Dark Spectre, four of the rangers found themselves going down memory lane, as Commander Bristow of SDI came back into touch with Xavier, Katie, Luke and Nahir. Sending them back into the field, the four of them were set the task of catching a woman who wanted to bring back the demons. Later, Nahir went to investigate a Dark Spectre disturbance, only for the creature to overwhelm her and take her form. Not wanting Nahir to interrupt her, Infiltra sealed the yellow ranger inside the body of the woman that she had helped to capture earlier. Along with a Cobra attack and some other random events, Luke managed to realise that Infiltra wasn't the real Nahir. As he and the other rangers managed to get answers out of her, they went to help Nahir, only for Infiltra to trick them and escape. After the events, Luke and Nahir found themselves wondering what could have been and what could be..._

_

* * *

_

"There it is!"

The shout came from the morphed Katie, the red ranger racing forward to lead the other rangers behind her towards the figure up ahead of them.

"Let's get this thing and take him down!" Duo yelled, the sight of the Coppinger mutant away in the distance. "Whatever it is."

"Running into the unknown," Nahir commented, a little sarcastically. "Because that worked so well for me last time."

"There's six of us this time," Luke pointed out, the mutant figure of the latest threat to the region turning to face them. It looked like a giant Raticate with several metallic cybernetic parts added to its body for effect. Although the majority of his body was covered in brown fur, his paws, claws, tail, whiskers and teeth were made from metal. Other than the usual two huge front teeth at the forefront of its mouth, the robotic Raticate also had several smaller but equally as sharp looking teeth along the gums of the cavern that passed for a mouth.

"Wondered how long it'd be before you freaks showed up," he taunted, as the six of them began to line up. "Lucky lucky me."

"We're the freaks?" Xavier asked, rhetorically. "Looked in the mirror lately?"

"Every chance I get," RoboRat replied, the sarcasm thick in his voice. "Well, when you've got a face like me, it's more a responsibilty than a choice."  
"This thing has a huge ego," Ryan commented. "I'm all for blasting him and going home."  
"Ha!" RoboRat snickered, clapping his hands together. "Let's just skip to the good stuff and take it up to the big leagues. Super Rat Rising!"

Giving off his order, the cybernetic Raticate began to shine with a bright white light, before shooting up to several times his normal height, before eventually towering above the six rangers.

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord and North Wind Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

"Overload Zords! Megazord formation!"

Under the command, the six Zords turned into their robot forms and began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbs and tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. Standing up, it took up a fighting stance.

"Well, look at you," RoboRat snickered, the partly metallic body shaking in mirth. "I'll chew you all up."  
"Not going to happen, RoboRat!" Xavier yelled. "You're finished."

"But, I've barely started yet," he said, his mouth opening ever wider as he finished speaking. Something that the watching rangers couldn't help but feel disturbed at the sight of. "Super Rat Bite Attack!"

Baring his teeth and letting out a ferocious hiss, the cybernetic Raticate leaped towards the Overload Megazord, clamping his teeth down onto the robot. Metal crashed against metal, the sharpened teeth cutting away through the 'skin' of the Megazord's chest. Still laughing, RoboRat continued to chomp away, desperate to get through to the valuable circuits that could bring it down.

"Not so fast!" Luke said, hitting a button in front of him. "Psycho Punch!"

Despite the almost severe injuries that were being inflicted upon it, the Megazord was quick to react, throwing up a punch backed by a powerful wave of psychic type energy that managed to force RoboRat back away from the giant robot.

"Good thinking, Luke," Katie offered, briefly glancing back to the purple ranger. "You got us out of trouble there. We can push on from here and..."

"So you forced me away!" RoboRat said, his voice loud and sarcastic. "Big deal. If that's all you can do, then this will be a short night."

"We're just getting warmed up," Xavier warned, looking down to his own console. "How about the Genesis Blaster?"

"Sounds like a wonderful idea," Katie said. "If nothing else, it might be worth using it to put some pressure on him."

Not wasting any time, the Overload Megazord let its hand drop to the side to bring up the weapon from the compartment within the Vaporeon leg. Levelling it away to the opponent, RoboRat began to laugh again.

"You think that's going to scare me?" he taunted. "Super Rat Duplication!"

On cue to his command, the robotic creature began to glow with more white light, the same stuff that he had used to make himself grow earlier. Only now he wasn't alone, two more versions materialising from within him.

"Oh come on!" Ryan groaned. "Give us a break!"

"They might just do that," Duo said, his voice thick with sarcasm as the trio of figures leaped towards them, all three of them baring their metallic fangs. "I'm suggesting that we hide."

"You would," Katie laughed. "Come on. This is just getting..."

Completely cutting her off in the midst of what she was about to say, the three robotic Raticates piled onto the Overload Megazord, completely taking it down. As the ranger's own giant robot was hurled back by the blow, they were quickly greeted with the sensation of being forced out of Megazord form and back into their regular ranger appearances. Laughing in glee at the effect that he had created, RoboRat began to turn away, assimilating the other two versions of himself back into his system.

"Guess you were no match for me Super Rat Duplication Dogpile," he taunted, already starting to leave the battlefield. "Smell you all later, Ranger Losers!"

"... Interesting," Katie finished, before collapsing with a groan. "Why do we bother?"

"I can take the defeat," Xavier commented. "But did he seriously have to be so insulting. That was just rude."

* * *

"This is getting to me," Katie groaned, walking out onto the bridge ahead of the other rangers. As she entered, the watching trio of Paige, Lance and Bill looked up to see what sort of mood the six of them had ended up in after their less than stellar defeat. "Coppingers, Cobras, Dark Spectres... Are we ever going to get a break?"

"Cheer up," Duo offered, reaching over to pat her on the shoulder. "We did our best against RoboRat. We can't do any more."

"If we can't, then our best really isn't good enough," Luke remarked. "Huh?"

"I mean it..." Katie continued, not really listening to the two of them. "Seriously, I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. There's a limit and we're way over it. Way over it."

"Uh oh," Ryan said, lightly. "If you're cracking under the pressure then what chance do the rest of us have?"

"Oh, that's right!" Katie snapped at him, the green ranger visibly wilting under her scathing attitude. "Make jokes why don't you?"

"Jeez, calm down," Nahir said, folding her arms to stare at the red ranger. "So, we didn't win for once. We'll regroup and come on back."

"We've had too many losses lately to say that we didn't win for once," Katie muttered. "There was Infiltra's escape..."

Both Luke and Xavier instantly started to glance sheepishly at each other from the comment. They remembered how the events from a few days earlier had gone down, depriving them of their chance to finish the assassin off.

"... We lost the other half of the Eclipse Stone, we haven't managed to destroy any of the higher ranking Coppingers..." Katie continued, through gritted teeth as she spoke. "Or the Cobras. Despite everything we've thrown at them, they're still as strong as ever. Face it, maybe we're not as good as we think. We don't even have any idea where to go and find the next artefact."

"Hey, I think that we're coping pretty well," Duo offered. "The odds suggest that you can't win them all, we'd be stupid to try."

"Maybe that's good enough for you," Katie replied, darkly. "Maybe it's a reflection on me. Maybe I'm not good enough as your leader. Hell, I couldn't even stop an immature teenager in the future from absolutely doing me in with his fancy Battlizer."  
"Katie..." Paige started to say. "... You ever think that you're pushing yourself too hard? Maybe you're expecting too much of yourself and us."

"We're doing something that possibly no Poké Rangers team has ever had to do before," Bill offered, the PokéManiac having been silent up to this point. "You guys are doing a good job."

"Good, but not great," Katie replied, turning to head for the door. "If anyone needs me, I'll be in my cabin. Reflecting."

"Katie..." Duo started to say, glancing over to the back of her head. "You're not thinking of quitting, are you?"

"Honestly?" she asked, slowly. "I don't know. I just need some time alone to think."

With those words hanging in the air, she turned to head through the door. Leaving her fellow rangers and the two support staff alone in shock.

* * *

Striding into her cabin, she let the door slam behind her. Dropping down onto the bed, the red ranger let out a huge groan to try and alleviate her frustration, before shutting her eyes. Barely five seconds later, she realised that it wasn't going to work. Part of her hated herself for feeling like this, the sense of shame at nearly being forced to give up.

"I hate this," she muttered, reconfirming it to herself. "Really, I do."

"Does that mean that you're giving up?"

Throwing herself bolt upright, Katie frantically found herself looking around the room. Her eyes falling upon the sight of the familiar figure in the corner, his arms folded to accentuate the look of annoyed displeasure upon his face.

"Clarence," she said, wearily. "What do you want?"  
"I repeat," he replied, barely concealed anger in his voice. "You're giving up?"  
"I don't know..." the red ranger said, dropping back onto the bed. "I don't want to give up, but on the other hand it seems so appealing."

"I can't believe that you are saying this," the Conduit snapped, other than that, his voice soft with displeasure. "Do you know what will happen if you give up?"

"I can guess," she said, her eyes still closed. "Clarence, I'm just having a bad moment here. I'll get over it and be back to normal pretty soon. Just... Let me be."

"Sorry, Miss Myers," he replied, the sound of his footsteps moving across the carpet towards her. "But, you need to see what sort of road you could go down."

Jerking her eyes open, she tried to spring up and retaliate. Yet somehow, with inhuman abilities, Clarence was on her, blazing across the ground faster than she could see before holding her down with strength that she didn't know he possessed. Even as she struggled to try and escape, a soft glow of energy began to emanate from his palm, the large hand clamping across her face. Between the gaps in his fingers, she could see him start to slowly speak.

"You will understand in time," he said, his voice a death knell to her senses. "See you shortly, Miss Myers."

She could feel the energy snaking across her body, the secretion that he had let loose over her slowly weighing her limbs even more than they already were. Somehow, she felt sleepy, quickly realising that despite her desperate attempts to keep her eyes open, it was an inevitable loss for her to do so. And as she felt her eyes slip shut, the bad feeling had kept lingering.

* * *

Not knowing how much time had passed, she jerked up out of the dreamless slumber the Conduit had imposed upon her. The first thing that hit her was the answer to her question, a sign in front of her revealing that she was at least in familiar territory. The name Holimar City clear for all to see, she glanced up to the sky to see that it was almost sunset. That was when she saw the buildings. The sight of their structures against the skyline disturbing her ever so slightly.

All around her, the majority of the city seemed to be the same. On the surface at least, she quickly realised that there were a few new buildings, while some of the older ones had been replaced by those newer structures.

"Where am I?" she whispered, more out of shock than curiosity. "What have you done, Clarence?"

Right on cue, the Conduit appeared next to her, his expression a little more lofty than the last time she had seen him.

"Since you ask," he replied, a smug smirk passing across the weathered features. "I'm going to explain it to you. This is what will happen to the world if you give up. Rather than show you this brief glimpse, I am going to give you the exclusive opportunity to experience two days in this brand new world. Two years after the Coppingers put together the Genesis Book."

"There's no need for you to do this," she quickly said, almost grabbing him by the lapels of his coat. "Come on, really?"

"Miss Myers, you disappoint me," he replied. "I thought that you were better than this. As it stands, this would be a consequence of your actions. The least you can do is to face up to them. Oh, and don't try to morph, either."

"I never quit though!" she screamed. Only for it to fall on deaf ears, the figure of the Conduit having vanished before her mouth opened to let out her bellow of frustration. "Son of a..."

Suddenly flashing across her hearing, she heard the sound of furtive footsteps. Spinning around on the spot, she was greeted with the sight of a lone Lucario wandering across the street. Tapping into the knowledge that she had acquired through ten years of training, some random fact resonated in her to tell her that it was a female Lucario. Why she needed to know that, she had no idea.

That was when a siren started to ring out in the distance. Slow at first, she could hear it gradually growing in volume as it came closer to her. Or, as they came closer to her, she mentally corrected herself, as she spotted the pair of unmarked black jeeps tearing down the street towards her. Not hesitating, Katie hurled herself to the side, evading the possibility of being run down by them. That was when she heard them screech to a halt. Rolling onto her back, she was immediately greeted with the sight of several various figures all wearing black and orange jumpsuits running towards her. Other than their facial appearances and the uniforms that they wore, the only distinguishing features upon the would-be attackers was a large white C across a black patch on the shoulder of the uniform.

"Oh terrific," Katie muttered, jumping to her feet. "Just when my day couldn't get any worse."

Not waiting for the inevitable attack to happen, she made the choice to force the initiative. Jumping up, she struck out with a snap kick to the chest of one of the strange figures, throwing him back into his friend.

"Hey!" another shouted, rushing towards her. "We're Coppinger Security Forces. We're supposed to attack you. Not the other way around."

"Guess I never got that memo," Katie muttered, throwing both fists towards his throat. Staggering him, she brought a knee up into his stomach, before spinning him to the ground by the arm. "Still, anyone want some more?"

Behind her, the former ranger heard a short sharp cough. Turning on the spot, she saw the speaker, an average height woman with slicked back strawberry blonde hair. She was wearing a long black coat, pants and boots as well as a pair of shades in the same colour. There was also a pair of orange armbands across each arm, while the sweater that she wore under her coat was a dark white colour. Despite the lack of variation in the almost monochrome colour of her clothes, there was something in her appearance that Katie noticed. Somehow, somewhere, she could have sworn she'd seen the figure before at some point. There was something unquestionably familiar about her.

"Still fighting," the woman commented, in a voice that struck Katie harder than any blow could have as she recognised it. And thus why the black clad figure looked so familiar. "Dear me, that's a change from the last time I saw you."  
"What the hell are you doing?" Katie spat, furiously. "What are you..."

Not hesitating, the figure charged towards her, the long black coat billowing behind her as she moved. Just as quickly, Katie moved to defend herself, throwing a kick towards the womans face...

... Only for the blow to pass straight through her and do seemingly nothing to harm her.

"Oops," the familiar woman said, sarcastically. Before picking Katie up with a suddenly very solid hand and tossing her against one of the jeeps. Hard. The sudden shock to the system was enough to knock her out cold, even before she crashed to the ground, ruby blood racing down her face. "Now, take her to him."

"Yes, Ma'am!" one of the Coppinger Security Force grunts exclaimed, throwing her a salute. "We'll get right on it."

Turning away from the activity in front of her, the woman that Katie had found so familiar saw something in the distance. A Lucario watching everything that took place in front of it, the Aura Pokémon giving the impression of musing for a moment before turning to run. Shaking her head, the black clad blond began to move towards her jeep. Her work here was done.

* * *

It didn't take long for Katie to come back around. At least not when the shockingly cold jet of water struck her like a hammer, the rake of eruption from the hosepipe almost certainly leaving a multitude of bruises across her skin. Also, she quickly realised, at some point, some bright spark had decided to hang her from a hook, her cuffed hands caught within the curved metal. The last time she had smelt anything like this was when visiting a Miltank abattoir for a charity promotion several months ago.

Only it wasn't several months ago, she thought to herself, trying to shift herself off the hook. Despite the lingering pains in both her arms and her face, she found herself slowly managing to do so.

"Wakey wakey," a CSF grunt taunted, moving over to her. "Well, since you're already awake, that's heavily irrelevant."

Terrific, she thought. An educated grunt. We're all screwed when the first wave of an assault is giving me a lecture on semantics.

"Maybe we should put her through the meat tenderiser," another grunt commented, the two of them laughing at the joke. "That'll rouse her."

"Rouse her?" the first grunt asked. "That hose would wake up a Snorlax. What are you implying about her?"

Again, both of them burst out into laughter. Even in her weakened state, Katie felt that if she got the opportunity, she would like nothing more than to beat the crap out of both of them. Letting her eyes slide shut in hope of blocking everything out, she began to imagine what a release that would be...

... Only for the water to hit her again. Taking her completely by surprise, the sudden blast caught her into gasping for breath, it stopping her from being able to inhale.

"Let her down, right now! You know full well he wants to see her."

Almost choking on the earlier assault, Katie found herself blinking several times to clear her vision. The sight of the woman who had beaten her earlier making her quickly wish that she hadn't bothered, the former ranger shot her a glare.

"Thought we'd try and break her spirit first," the second grunt offered. "Because..."

He didn't get the chance to finish, the black clad blonde tossing him back against the wall. As he slid down it in pain, he let out an agonised groan, the grunt desperately twitching at the injury.

"Take her up, now!" the woman snarled. "Or do you need telling twice."

* * *

Thrown into the office, Katie fell to her bruised knees, immediately startled at the high quality of the carpet below her. Looking up almost straight away, she found herself scanning the office for any sort of answer as to where she was. Where she might be, quickly realising that the room was a stark contrast to the abattoir that she had previously been in.

What she did see failed to fill her with much optimism, the room around her full of rare curios. Getting to her feet in surprise, she couldn't help but fail to notice what appeared to be the mounted helmets of the Cobra Rangers upon the wall above a huge oak desk and leather chair with the back to her. Taking a step forward, her vision was drawn to six familiar looking objects below each appropriate helmet. A Fire Stone, a Dusk Stone, a Water Stone, a Thunder Stone, a Leaf Stone and a Sun Shard. Albeit covered in dark gaping cracks, the sight almost enough to dishearten her completely. If they were what she thought that they were, there was every possibility that she was right in her guess, then...

"Welcome to my world!" Dennis hissed, his voice in her ear. "Hope that you like it. Red Ranger. Or rather, former Red Ranger."

Almost spinning around to face him, she felt his hands on her shoulders, forcing her into a chair in front of the desk. Something that was enough to terrify her almost completely, he had managed to sneak up on her without announcing himself at all. Not waiting to see her surprise, the Coppinger leader moved away into his seat, spinning it around to face her. Unlike the last time she had seen him, he now looked to be human once again, no longer in the mutant form that she had observed when seeing him in combat with Kyle Weaver. Yet, even though the monstrous visage had vanished, there was still something in there that didn't sit right with her. Evil power radiated from him, almost enough to make her feel sick.

"I have to give you some kudos," he remarked, leaning forward. "Without you, none of this was possible. None of it at all. In fact, if you weren't so dangerous, I'd be sending you away with a golden handshake right now."

"Oh, I see," she replied, scathingly. "You want to bribe me."

"Bribe you?" he asked, his eyes dead set on her. "Bribe you, Miss Myers. I want to rip your skin off piece by piece. Not quite as much as I want to hurt that other red ranger in the future, but you're on that list. You gave us all quite a runaround two years ago. We are the Coppingers, the strongest group of criminals in the history of Verger. Yet, here we were being foiled by a bunch of teenagers in coloured costumes. By rights... By law it should not have happened. We even took steps to ensure that you in your previous incarnations would not interfere..."

At this point, he paused to reach forward into the cigar case to take out a Royal Hearthome Special.

"You mind if I smoke?" he asked, before smirking at her. "Because it's tough if you do. My office, my rules. Personally, I hate these rules that protect non-smokers. If they want to get away from it, then..."

Breaking off, the Coppinger leader reached down to light up the end of the tobacco filled item, the smirk growing ever so slowly wider.

"... Of course, the anti-smoking laws were one of the things that I rewrote when I completed the Genesis Book," he said. "That first burst of power into my system... It's unexplainable."

"You..." Katie started to ask, stunned by his revelation. "You were the one who completed the Genesis Book. But... Everything looks the same. Holimar City is virtually the same as it was two years ago."

"Now now, Miss Myers," Dennis replied, a smile in his voice. "What do you actually think we would do with the power of the Genesis Book should we get it? Obliterate the entire planet from existence? What would be the point of that? We're criminals... We were viewed as criminals. I prefer to think of myself as a past revolutionary. Our goals were profit. Mainly. Had we levelled the Earth to a ball of ash, we wouldn't have been able to achieve that goal. Of course, our influence is now a controlling one in the ruling of Verger. We make the laws and people are happy. The police are defunct, our Coppinger Security Forces are much more efficient..."

"You used the Genesis Book to become a dictator?" she asked, shocked. "... Really? It's all been about money?"

"Make no mistake, Miss Myers," Dennis remarked, blowing smoke rings up into the air from his cigar. "The people accept my role as a leader absolutely. Most of them harbour no strong feelings about it either way. They don't love me, but they don't riot in the streets at my presence. We are now in full control of the main regions. Kanto. Johto. Hoenn. Sinnoh. Orre. Isshu. Verger. I just take an interest in control in this region. President of the world is a job that brings unbelievable pressure. No single man should have to burden that responsibility. Instead, the Coppinger Elites that helped me reach this point before have a controlling interest in those regions. All across the regions, the people accept us as the norm."

"I've got to give you credit," she said, leaning forward to glare at him. "You're an even bigger maniac than..."

"Careful, Miss Myers," he warned. "I'm treating you with courtesy as befits a wily opponent for the moment, but I can easily have you recalled to the rather unpleasant room that you occupied before. Either way, it is no skin from my nose. I say that people accept us as the norm. Most people. And by that, I mean people like you. Poké Rangers. Or rather those that were Poké Rangers."

At his chilling words, Katie felt her eyes rise to the mounted heads of the Cobra Rangers above Dennis' head.

"Suppose I have to congratulate you for taking them down," she muttered. "That's impressive."

"And yet so easy," Dennis replied, smugly blowing another barrage of smoke out. "See, there's something that Arbok discovered. The items that powered your morphers give off positive Genesis energy. The Cobra Rangers gave off a negative energy. When the two came together..."

Leaving the cigar in his mouth, he mimed an explosion with both hands. The effect strangely surreal from a figure so serious.

"However, the results were so explosive that the power within them was completely decimated. A sacrifice that was worth making."

"What happened to them?" Katie asked, allowing herself one final glance at the items above the Coppinger leader. "My friends. Other than the one that I know about."

"Miss Martinez?" Dennis asked, the former ranger in front of him flinching at the mention of her name. "What can I say, she saw the light. Now, she's my top enforcement officer."

"What did you do to her?" Katie demanded, almost jumping out of her seat to hurl herself across the table. "No way she'd work for you without being coerced in some way."  
"Maybe you don't know her as well as you think you do," Dennis said, dismissively. "Either way, the other ex-rangers, not just in this region but across all of them were given a choice. Their powers were destroyed, they had a choice of assimilating and embracing the new culture. Or imprisonment and possibly death should they reject it. Several did reject it and they were harshly dealt with."

Leaning back in his seat, the Coppinger leader gave her one final long hard look before turning away to the window.

"However, I believe that we can make a deal. There is one such figure out there. Black Phoenix. We have no idea who or where he is, all we know is that he or she has set out to destabilise this rule that we have painstakingly set up. Attacking our security forces, leaving his logo across our buildings and trying to offer people hope that they do not want. Either that, or he just hates us. Personally, I don't care. I just want him gone from the streets."

"Why are you telling me this? You want me to send him a fruit basket?"

Even after the words left her mouth, she found herself wondering what Dennis' reaction would be. With the back of his chair to her, she couldn't tell by reading his expression, instead finding herself wondering.

"I want you to hunt him down for me," Dennis said, looking out of the window, across the street to the building on the other side of the road. "Find out who he is and bring him before me. You can't have worse luck than my security teams. He seems to know how to evade those morons at will. Find him and I shall reward you handsomely."  
"Yeah, I don't think so."

"Listen to my offer, Miss Myers," he remarked, spotting the movement of shadows atop the roof of the much smaller building across the street. For a moment, he swore that he could have seen a flash of blue fur, the sight disturbing to him. "You haven't heard what I can give to you. Of your friends that are currently imprisoned, I shall ensure that they have an easier life within jail. Miss Martinez will be released from her duties, if she so desires to. If I have coerced her into doing my bidding, as you seem to think, then she will jump at the chance. And, I can give you your old life back. As a champion, a trainer who deserves the respect of the entire region."

"In other words, you want me to hunt down someone who hates you and then you use me as a trophy afterwards?" Katie asked, a touch of derision in her voice. "Yeah, you can bite me. No matter what situation my friends are in, they wouldn't want me to do this. Do what you want with me, I don't really care."  
Finally, Dennis' chair turned back to her. An impassive look across the weathered features of the Coppinger leader, there was no mistaking the things that he was feeling right now.

"So be it," he replied, pushing down on a button in front of him. "Sorry, but you're far too dangerous to imprison. Instead, your price of refusal is immediate death."

Almost immediately, the doors behind her opened up, Paige walking into the room with a blank expression on her face.

"Any final words that you want to say?" Dennis asked, his expression still strangely empty of emotion.

"Don't I get a final meal?" Katie asked, the quip bringing the slightest twitch from Paige's face. The gesture annoying her even more, the lone show of emotion almost enough to set her leaping upon the former white ranger.

"Mark and execute," Dennis ordered, not showing any sign of reluctance with his order. "She's not willing to cooperate."

"Shame," Paige commented, placing a hand on Katie's shoulder. "Are you going to walk out of here, or do I have to drag you out?"

"I'd like to see you try!" Katie snapped, getting up of her own accord, before shaking Paige's hand away from her. "Traitor."

"In the next hour, I'll still be alive," Paige replied, coldly. "Traitor or not."

* * *

"Take her outside and execute her in the alley across the street," Paige ordered, glaring at the four Security Force grunts in the elevator at the end of the corridor outside Dennis' office. "Orders from the top."

"Yes Ma'am!" the grunt that appeared to be in charge exclaimed, throwing her a salute. "We'll get right on it."

Being pushed into the elevator, Katie turned to shoot another reproachful look at the former white ranger. Something that Paige seemed to acknowledge, an almost apologetic expression flashing across her face for just a moment.

"Wish it could be different," she said, more to herself than to anyone in particular. "But..."

"Don't even talk to me," Katie muttered. "I'm not interested."

Even as the steel doors began to close, she looked up. Just in time to see a brown haired woman wearing a long flowing purple dress walking into Dennis' office, something that Paige was seemingly aware of. Somehow, the woman looked familiar, yet this time she couldn't place where she had seen the figure before. This time, she thought, it's not going to matter. Unless I get a huge slice of fortune...

That was when the large metal box began to descend. A slow descent into hell...

* * *

Feeling herself being forced across the empty road towards the alley, Katie couldn't help but wonder how she was going to get out of it. Or what would happen if the inevitable did happen and the Coppinger forces of this time did manage to kill her. Would she stay dead? Would Clarence revive her and force her to carry on the charade needed to continue in this time period? Or would she just end up back in her bed on the Silver Gyarados.

Across the road, she could see a trio of Doombots. Apparently, the Coppinger still produced them despite the huge number of security forces that Dennis seemed to have at his disposal. Starting to feel the slow oncome of panic, she began to look left and right in hope that something would come out of the blue to give her some assistance. The only thing that immediately struck her...

Is that thing stalking me, she wondered, seeing another female Lucario stood at the end of the street, watching the events that took place in front of her. Either that, or this future has an incredible number of female Lucario wandering around in close proximity to the human population...

Wondering why she was even thinking of that, Katie broke out of the thoughts and began to look around for more help. Already, the five of them were at the entrance to the alley, marching her into the darkness that it held. She could hear the clumping footsteps of the three large robotic features behind her, the chances of an escape seeming slimmer by the moment.

* * *

"Stand over there," one of the grunts ordered, pushing forward towards a patch of scorched ground ahead of her. "We don't want to feel the heat when they burn you to a crisp."

"Oh, anything to oblige you," she said, trying to fit as much sarcasm into her voice as possible. "Want me to avoid leaving too much ash into the wind that could mark your uniforms?"

That earned her a whack around the back of the head, the leader of the grunts angrily placing his foot into her back and shoving her forward. In turn, the three Doombots began to move into position, their weapons starting to charge up. Already, she could feel the tremendous heat being given off by the latent weapons, the soulless expression in the metallic eyes gazing at her with unfeeling intensity.

This is it, she thought, determined to try and stare them down. Not wanting to even blink as a sign of solidarity, she didn't want to die begging for her life. In another situation, her reactions might have been different. This time, the uncertainty was rendering her strong. The knowledge that she might not die was preventing her from being truly cowed by the prospect of a horrible death.

That was when one of the Doombots began to crackle and fiz as an unknown force damaged it. Desperately trying to self repair itself, the two metal arms began to scrabble around at its back, moving to try and pull the strange offensive item in question out. It quickly became apparent that it was going to fail, the hunk of machine eventually falling to the ground to reveal a green dagger with a symbol that resembled a Treecko in the middle of the hilt sticking out of its back.

"What the...?" one of the Security Force members roared, momentarily shocked by the attack from nowhere. "Oh hell. He's here!"

Confirming that suspicion, the figure leaped down out of the darkness. For a moment, Katie thought that it was Paige, the similarities in attire way up there. Yet, she realised that the figure was more powerfully built than Paige was, the differences not ending there. He also wore a blacked out motorcycle helmet, disguising his appearance. As he spun around to kick another grunt in the stomach with heavy looking steel toed boots, she caught a glimpse of a black Moltres across the back of his coat. With the grunt staggering back, the figure reached down into the back of his long black leather coat, pulling out a sword. A sword with a red star upon its golde handle, while it also had a long silver blade at the end of it. Wielding the sword masterfully, the figure that she assumed to be Black Phoenix turned and decapitated one of the Doombots without flinching. Reacting from where she had been stood, Katie jumped up and kicked one of the grunts in the face, forcing him back. Across from her, Black Phoenix had carried on against the last Doombot, rushing towards it with his sword extended. Vexed at the surprise attack, the robot quickly unleashed a stream of red hot flames through the air towards the attacker, only for Black Phoenix to drop down under it. Before the Doombot could readjust its aim, the vigilante reacted faster and plunged the sword straight through the breast of the figure. Not even letting out a knell of death, the robotic figure quickly collapsed to the ground with a crash and stopped working. Not even regarding his handiwork, the figure of Black Phoenix began to retrieve his weapons.

"Guess I owe you some thanks," she said, staring at him. "Black Phoenix, I presume."

Across from her, the figure reached up for his motorcycle helmet. Already making the steps to remove it while speaking, his voice the crack of a whip against the darkness.

"I am Black Phoenix," he said, pulling the helmet away. It was more a statement than an offering of information. "But, I believe you know me under another name."

Seeing his face under the helmet, Katie was visibly shocked at the sight. At the scarred visage below the rusted brown-red hair, one of the marks in question running across the figures right eye. She had met him once before, but it seemed like such a long time ago, the past memories of the surprise interaction with him outside the place where the Wallace Cup had been held in Waterfall Shores all that time ago striking her across the face.

"Long time no see," Daniel Dragonfly replied, folding his arms. "Would ask how you've been, but it's probably been about the same for you as for everyone."

* * *

To Be Continued...

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Look at this! An update! Am I feeling okay? Haha.**

**It's not really the most original idea ever, I think there was a similar plotline in Poké Rangers Neo**

**At least that explains where the Phoenix part of the alterego came from. Because Danny's Overtech power base was a Moltres. That was more or less my thinking. Clearly, it's not the same Black Phoenix that appeared in Mighty Morphing Poké Rangers. **

**And, is there something more about that Lucario that appears sporadically through the chapter...**

**Answers next chapter.**

**Thanks for the reviews. All appreciated.**

**So, yeah, it appears the block is over. Absolutely blitzed out this chapter, the mojo is back.**

**Okay, thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review... Please. Anyway, Paige can reply today. By default. Enjoy.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Thirty Four, Two Years Later: Part Two, preview.**

**Katie: Want to explain everything that's happening?  
Danny: Not really. Do you?**

**Katie: What is this?**

**?: Organa. The last thing left to fight the Coppingers.**

**Katie: How do you know so much about them?**

**?: You were my hero...**

**Katie: Heroes always disappoint you. Sorry to tell you that.**

**Duo: Handy when you have a convenient source of information...**

**Coming soon.**


	34. Two Years Later: Part Two

Chapter Thirty Four. Two Years Later: Part Two.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_In confronting the latest Coppinger creation, RoboRat, the Genesis Rangers were quickly overwhelmed by the surprising force and trickery from the opponent. Enough to stress Katie out to the point where she almost considered quitting her duties as a ranger. Before she had made up her mind, Clarence appeared and transported her two years into the future to see what consequences that would lead to. Almost immediately, she was captured by a future version of Paige who was working for the Coppingers. Thrown before Dennis, he informed her what had gone on in the meantime, before asking her to hunt down the vigilante Black Phoenix. Something that Katie gracefully declined, before being sentenced to death. Before she could be killed by the Doombots, Black Phoenix appeared out of nowhere to rescue her, revealing himself after the battle to be none other than Danny Dragonfly..._

_

* * *

_

She had met him once before, but it seemed like such a long time ago, the past memories of the surprise interaction with him outside the place where the Wallace Cup had been held in Waterfall Shores all that time ago striking her across the face.

"Long time no see," Daniel Dragonfly replied, folding his arms. "Would ask how you've been, but it's probably been about the same for you as for everyone."

"Long time no see right back at you," she said, shrugging. "Great timing. Thanks for that."

"I'm all for the saving of damsels in distress," he answered, a little wary of her presence. "So..."

"Damsel?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Really?"

"Loosest sense of the term?" he replied, raising both hands up. "Okay? No offence. It's mainly anyone who needs it."

"Black Phoenix?" she asked, moving back to the name that he had chosen to call himself. "Really? Really?"

"Name of an old foe that we fought in the first generation of the Hoenn rangers," he replied, quickly. "I originally tried to call myself Black Moltres, but the Coppinger based media tagged the name Black Phoenix to me. Because of that single connection."

"Want to explain everything that's happening?" Katie asked, before checking herself mid sentence. "In a bit more detail?"

"Not really," he replied. "Do you?"

"I don't know what's happening, other than what I've picked up," she said. "Come on, I need to know what's been happening. This is seriously worrying."

"Not here," Danny replied, folding his arms. "Come with me if you want those answers. This place is dangerous, they could have back up here any moment."  
"Lead on, Moltres."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord and North Wind Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

**Special Guest Star:**

**-Daniel Dragonfly.**

**-Lucria Dimon.**

**-Sean Fubrizzi.**

**-Violet Skycloud.**

**-Claire Springfield.**

**-And Claydol as 'Claydol'.**

**

* * *

**

"Rrrargh!"

The bark of the Lucario was almost instantly the first thing that the two of them heard upon the prompt exit of the alley, Katie looking around in surprise to the Pokémon in front of the two former rangers.

"This has to be too much of a coincidence," she said, taking a step towards the Aura Pokémon. "All right, first question. Is this your Lucario?"

"Actually, she's nobody's Lucario," Danny replied, seconds before the figure began to change, growing and glowing via a bright white wave of energy, the transformation only lasting a few split seconds.

Where the Lucario previously stood, there was now a girl in her late teens. She had beige coloured skin and long orange hair, as well as wearing a black sweater and jeans, not too dissimilar to the clothes that both Danny and Paige had been seen wearing.

"Take it you got her then," she remarked, looking at Katie. "Well done."

"Seriously, what is it with the clothes in this place?" Katie wondered, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "There's not really a lot of imagination in there."

"I change from a Lucario into a human and that's all you can say?" the girl asked, glaring at Katie. "Seriously? Really?"

"Well, since I once met a guy who could turn into a Sandslash," Katie replied, testily. "It's not like it's something I haven't seen before. Let me guess... You're from Holon?"

"She's got you figured out, Lu," Danny laughed, before looking out around the area to check for any sign of advancing threats. "How about that?"

"That's Lucria to everyone else," Lucria remarked, holding out a hand to Katie. "Lucria Dimon. And before reinforcements show up, I suggest we get the heck out of here."

"Already in progress," Danny replied, starting to walk down the street. "Let's go."

* * *

Roughly half an hour later, the three of them found themselves arriving outside an apparently abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city, the outer appearance of the building falling away into disrepair.

"Let me guess," Katie commented, looking it up and down with a calm expression. One that didn't reveal what she truly thought of the place, a fleck of brown paint dropping away from the bricks at the top to land at their feet. "Your hideout?"

"We prefer not to call it that," Lucria remarked, a trifle sarcastically. "It's a little too conspicuous in brainwashed company."

"Good thing I'm not brainwashed then," Katie shot back, Danny ignoring the both of them to make a move for the doors. Pulling the left one open with slight difficulty, a creaking scrape erupting out from his actions, he shot a gesture towards the two of them to enter.

"After you," he remarked, throwing out a weary smile across his features. "Wipe your feet upon entering."

* * *

"What is this?" Katie asked, a little taken aback by the sights in front of her. Inside the warehouse, the first portion of the room that they arrived in appeared to be a giant storage area, full of huge crates. As far as Katie could see, they were stretched out all the way through the room, the building having been completely abandoned by the last people to use it, along with the unshipped products.

"Soon," Lucria offered. "This is just the front. Of our 'hideout'."

Conjuring up an Aura Sphere in her hand, she lightly tossed the item up into the air, watching it hit a slightly crooked tile on the ceiling dead on.

"Good aim," Danny remarked, nodding at what had just happened. "As per..."

"You say that every time," Lucria muttered. "It gets grating after a while."

Even despite her annoyed comment, the PokéMorph couldn't help but look pleased at the comment. The slight smile growing wider as she saw the surprised expression flash across Katie's face as a section of the floor slid away to reveal some stairs leading down into the darkness.

"Interesting," the former red ranger remarked, taking a step forward. "That's... Is that where you keep your base of operations?"

"Pretty much," Danny said, making to walk towards the steps with the intention of going down them. "Come on, let's go."

"The Aura Sphere trips a sensitive part of the roof that one member of our group hooked up to the security system," Lucria offered, talking to Katie as the two of them made to follow Danny. "It alerts one of our people down below who then opens it up for us. Decent security system, it's all we need really at the moment. If we get found here, we'll have to relocate anyway. It's all a case of not wanting to waste too much energy and resources for something that we probably won't use forever."

"Not that many abandoned warehouses out there with huge basements though," Danny remarked, his tone deadpan. "But..."

* * *

"They have failed, haven't they?"

Dropping his head into his hands, Dennis couldn't help but mutter a few choice words of anger at the predicament that he had now found himself in.

"It would appear so, if the reports from ground level are correct," he replied, abandoning his previous pose to drop back into the chair. "I should have sent a bigger battalion down to oversee her execution."

"Yet, you didn't," the brown haired woman across the desk said, coldly. "Congratulations."

"I never expected Black Phoenix to know about her," he replied, quickly moving to verbally retaliate. "Did I? That man is turning out to be a real pain in my neck. How did he pick up on her presence her so quickly?"

"I suggest that you do not let it happen again," she said, her voice still harsh and unfriendly. "Find out why and how he gets his information! Immediately!"

"We've been trying that for a long time..." Dennis started to protest, before feeling the mental wrath invoked upon him by her state.

"Word of advice, Dennis!" she snapped, her teeth clicking together at her sudden show of anger. "Don't think that I won't replace you if it comes down to it. I owe you a lot of gratitude, but don't think I won't forget about it if your category of failure to deal with Black Phoenix extends out much more."

* * *

"Okay, wow," Katie said, wonder in her voice as she looked around the basement area of the warehouse in awe. "This is... Just wow."

"We get that response a lot," Danny commented, stepping aside to reveal a few other people within the room. All of them not really paying any attention to the new arrivals, instead focusing on the various tasks that they were working on. "Or we would, I imagine, if we brought people down here."

"Touché to that," one of the working figures remarked, turning around to look at them. "Not many guests come here. On account of our being fugitives to the complete unreasonable letter of the revised laws that our grand conquerors have come up with."

He had shaggy long blond hair and blue eyes, coupled with a pair of battered looking glasses. Across his sweater, there were a pair of blue stripes, while he carried a big blue gun shaped like a Mudkip's head in a large makeshift holster at his belt. Behind his back, there was a small red and white coloured sword, tucked away for easy access. Stood next to him was a figure that Katie quickly recognised, albeit one that had aged more since she had seen her last, the girl in her early teens having bright blue hair and familiar eyes.

"The technical team," Danny remarked, gesturing to the two of them. "Sean Fubrizzi..."

At the mention of his name, the blond haired man threw her an uneasy wave, before making a move to go back to what he had been working on. His sudden absence leaving the blue haired girl alone, a strange look upon her face as she gazed at the former rangers in front of her.

"... And..." Danny started to say, before being interrupted. By Katie.

"Claire, right?" she asked, still surprised at the presence of the girl who had to be... Taking a guess, she would have said late twelve, early thirteen. "Really?"

"Hey, I remember you," Claire said, taking a startled step back in surprise. Almost knocking the table of various gadgets and weapons over in her shock, she quickly recovered to smile back at the former ranger. "You and that guy whose name I forget gave me an autographed picture."

"Autographed pictures from rangers? What's next? Signed helmets?"

That voice came from the other person in the room, a girl probably about the same age as Lucria speaking out with the jibe. She had long brown hair fashioned into a ponytail and blue eyes. Unlike the other former rangers, she just wore the jeans in the same colour as her eyes, and a yellow vest. Her sweater was around her waist, a red Auto Blaster sticking out above it. On the bench behind her, there was a golden coloured rifle that she had been working on repairing, her hands caked in oil as she extended one out to Katie.

"Violet Skycloud," she explained, Katie returning the gesture eagerly. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Katie said. "So, what's your role here? Other than repairing very big guns."

At that comment, Violet let out a laugh, turning her gaze half back to the weapon that she'd been working on.

"That belonged to my brother," she replied. "Hasn't worked for a while, I've been trying to get the thing back up and working."

"Anyway," Danny said, rapping his fist against a metal door to gain some attention. "Now that we've all had this lovely introduction, how about debriefing. We have some questions for our guest, just as she no doubt has some for us."

* * *

"To answer your question," Sean said, looking first at Katie and then down to the black Moltres symbol on the ground below him. "What is this place? Organa. The last thing left to fight the Coppingers."

"So, you guys are all ex-rangers?" Katie asked. "Well, I know Danny is. But..."  
"Blue Mighty Morphin' Ranger," Sean offered, gesturing down to the Fin Blaster at his waist. "Was, anyway."

"Yellow Turbo Ranger," Violet explained, folding her arms. "That's who I am."

"Blue Poké Power Ranger," Lucria finished. "Strange how it worked out that several former blue rangers would end up here, but..."

"What about Claire?" Katie asked. "She's not a ranger. Why would she be here?"

"You want the truth?" Sean replied, a pained look on his face. "Some bad things happened to her. Her guardians in this region were assaulted by Coppinger Security Forces, after they violated the curfew to try and get her some medicine for an illness she was suffering from. Fortunately, Black Phoenix was nearby and he tried to intervene. Unfortunately, he was too late, both of them died from horrific impact injuries."

"She's not listening in on this, is she?" Lucria asked. "Not that she doesn't know about it, but it might be a bit brutal for her to hear it again."

"She's with Claydol," Danny replied. "Helping him with something. Anyway, before her grandmother died, she made me promise to help Claire. I went back to where she had been left in care of a neighbour and brought her back here. We treated her as best we could, but we had a problem."

"A big problem," Sean said. "See, the people that are allowed in and out of the region without going through a huge amount of checkpoints, identity examinations and the like are Coppingers. We can't get her out of the country and back to her parents in Sinnoh. Just like they can't come here to get her."

"So, we conscripted her," Violet replied, sadly. "We're not happy about it, but she seems to have adapted. She's pretty smart, so she's been helping Sean out with maintaining what little equipment we have. She told me this one time that she had intended to study at the Jubilife Institute of Technology at some point. Instead, she builds things that blow up."

"Seems like you cut the middle man out," Katie remarked, frowning at the implications. "Wasn't that the place where the scientist who built the Galactic Bomb was educated?"

"Most of our stuff was destroyed when the Coppingers unleashed their pulse that wiped out every single morphing grid in existence," Danny said, ignoring her comment. "When they officially did what nobody has ever done before and wiped out the Poké Rangers. We were dead, no further option but to surrender or go to jail."

"Say what you like, I chose to avoid surrender," Violet remarked, cracking her knuckles. "I was a trained police officer. I wasn't going to let them boss me around, powers or no."

"Likewise," Lucria said. "We ended up sharing a cell."

"As much as I hate to admit it," Danny offered, looking around with a slight sense of shame at where his actions had lead him. "I did choose surrender. Both Amii and I did that, just wanting to have a normal life. We moved on..."

"That's understandable," Katie said. "I can see why you did it, despite whether I agree with your choice or not."

"Then, Amii published something on her fashion blog that irked the hierarchy," Danny muttered, his eyes growing wistful at the memory. "I told her not to do it, but she ignored me. They came in the night, I have no idea what happened to her. Tried to fight them off, but I was overcome. By the time I came around, she was gone."

Clearly still pained by the memory, he did his best to shake it off and stand up straight, finishing the story.

"That was it. I wasn't about to take the rest of it, go on and pretend that nothing had happened. I managed to get into Verger with the help of my old friend Sean..."

"I avoided that choice because I was part of UAFOH at the time," Sean offered as a means of his explanation. "As much as the Coppingers were accepted as the new norm atop the chain of the command, I had moved up to a decent ranking officer. I was good at my job, they weren't willing to have that choice put to me. So, I got off lightly with a strongly worded letter, and an imploration to carry of serving my region."

"We got in via an expendable plane," Danny explained. "Went to Meteor Falls, brought our old friend Claydol out of semi-delirious retirement and teleported out of it with the intention of crashing the plane into the Coppinger building. Our first act as Organa. Organised Anarchy. Unfortunately, it didn't quite come off, but..."

"That's the defense system they put up for you," Violet remarked. "Anyway, those three decided to build this underground vigilante persona as a warning. A warning that to the Coppingers, telling them that although they might be all powerful and loved where they are, there are people who will try and destabilise them. They're not going to have it all their own way."

"In case you were wondering," Lucria said, looking over to Katie. "We were conscripted to this ragtag bunch of rebels when we were being transferred from one jail to a more secure one."

"We came up with an escape plan," Violet offered, rolling her eyes. "It didn't work. That's all I'm willing to say on it."

"Somehow, Sean heard about it," Lucria remarked, leaning back against the wall with her arms behind her head. "We're chained up in this van, when something hits it. Next thing we know, Black Phoenix comes over and gets us out of it."

"I drove a tractor into the prison van," Danny summarised, a smirk on his face as he began to reminisce on the memory. "That was when we began to grow as a force, hitting the Coppinger security patrols whenever they attacked random people on the street for violating the curfew. Blow up their vehicles, mark their buildings with our logo, stealing their money. Destroy their property..."

"Didn't you once urinate in Dennis' pool?" Sean asked, grinning. "Got onto the grounds of his mansion and..."

"Given the security of his home, that's about all I could do," Danny remarked. "Damn rocket launcher wouldn't have made a crack on the windows. We have thought about hitting other high ranking Coppingers in the region, but it's finding them. A slow task, despite all the information that we already do have from our sources. Electronic and otherwise."

"How do you know so much about them?" Katie asked, surprised at the revelations. "I mean... It's not like there's that much of it on the Internet. There wasn't in the past, I'm sure that there wouldn't be now that they're all powerful. And we had a pretty good hacker working for us then, so..."

"Handy when you have a convenient source of information," a familiar voice behind her remarked. Turning on the spot in shock, Katie immediately saw the speaker, shocked that he was here. The tall figure not quite as she remembered him, his features worn and haggard, his skin pale as he stood next to Claire and the Claydol. "Someone who has previous first hand experience in fighting them, knowing the sort of tactics that they'll employ when it comes down to it. That's not what you're going to find on the databases."

He paused for a moment, deliberately enjoying the look of shock that was on Katie's face, courtesy of his surprise appearance within Organa.

"And someone reliable. Good thing that I remember what that's like. Mostly."

"So, where'd you find him?" Katie asked, still startled by Duo's appearance. The former black ranger that she had worked with appearing in an absolutely terrible condition, seemingly haunted by something. As she stared towards his eyes, there was nothing there that she wanted to recognise, just the remnants of something that once existed.

"You never thought to ask what happened to all your own old friends?" Duo asked, his voice hoarser than she remembered. The cracks audible to all, she felt a pang of regret at the way he had ended up. "When you just walked away from it all."

"That's just..."

"Guess you never saw it," he continued, cutting her off. "When RoboRat returned. We couldn't form our Megazord without you, Paige went to fight him alone. She never stood a chance..."

"She seems to have done well for herself up to this point," Katie said, sarcastically. "So excuse me if I don't feel sorry for her."

"She's just as much an unwilling victim as anyone in this sadistic tale," Duo retorted, the anger starting to show through. Anger that she never thought that she would feel from him towards her. "Or did you just think that she sold us all out? It takes a special kind of person to do that. Someone not a million millimetres away from me."

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" she asked, glaring at him. "In private?"

"No," he replied, folding his arms loftily. "Anything you want to say, you can say in front of everyone else. People who don't let you down when it gets really tough."

"I never..."

"People that I really can trust, rather than someone that I thought I could trust," Duo continued, looking down to Claire who was starting to edge closer to Claydol, a little freaked out by his psychotic rant. "That's what we all want in the end. What, thanks to you, none of us will have ever again."

"Agitated much?" Claydol wondered, before looking at the former ranger. "Duo, I sense that you need to hear what she has to say. If nothing else, it may afford you some of the answers that you seek."

"Okay then," Duo said, glaring at the Claydol. "Guess I'll just do that then. I'll hear the facts, then I'll continue to get on with my rant at her. I'm not going to forgive her for walking away from this fight, no matter what she says to justify it."

Turning away from the rest of them, he gestured to a closed storage room across from them, the door to the small room left wide open.

"After you," he remarked, still slightly sarcastic in his voice. "Let's hear it."

* * *

"What is that?"

She had arrived again, walking into Dennis' office with a calculating frown upon her features. Wondering what it was that he had brought her down for, she was greeted with the sight of the Coppinger behind the desk, polishing what appeared to be a golden arm gauntlet embedded with several indigo blue designs, the marks woven away into the metal.

"Something that we found a little over a year and a half ago," Dennis replied, moving to try and squeeze his arm into the object, grimacing as he realised that it wouldn't fit around his skin. "Son of a ..."

"Why are you playing with it?" she demanded. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Just checking to see if I can utilise it for anything," he remarked, before moving to place it back in the drawer below his desk. "Okay, the reason I called you down here. We may have a link to the location of Black Phoenix. In a very short time, we may know where he is."

"Is there any reason that I need to know about the possibilities?" she asked, already turning to leave. "I don't think that was important enough to drag me down here. Next time, do it when you have some worthwhile news."

* * *

"Okay," Katie said, hearing the sound of the door close behind her. The next thing being the lock clicking. "Guess we've got the privacy to talk."

"What's there to talk about?" Duo asked, taking a step back away from the hand she had placed on his arm. "You abandoned us. Plain and simple. Just..."

"How did I do that?" she retorted, moving to follow him. "Come on. Think about it. Are you suggesting that I jumped out into the water and swam to the shore? We were about sixteen miles from land. Have you really lost your mind that much?"

"You're a good swimmer," he shot back, at least now willing to look her in the eyes. "Seriously, sling a bikini on and you're away. Free from everything that you swore to do."  
"I'm a good swimmer, I'm not OceanGuardian," she replied, softening her voice. "If I'd have done that, I'd have drowned. Collapsed of exhaustion long before reaching land. I take it my Hover Chaser was still in storage... Duo, be reasonable, you think I willingly walked away?"

"I think you were in the mood to," he said, stubbornly. "You were being a..."  
"The frustration of nerves after a lost battle," she protested, quietly. "I was just intending to cool off. Have a nap, maybe take a shower. I didn't expect Clarence to pop up out of nowhere and send me to this point in time. That's where I went... That day seems like yesterday to me, to all intents and purposes, it was. I can only say it so many times, it doesn't make it any less true, I never walked away from this fight intentionally. That's something I'd never do. I was forced out of it by Clarence, I never had either a choice to avoid or fight it."

"You didn't abandon us?" he asked, all traces of the real Duo starting to return to his presence. The colour swept back into his skin, even some of the demeanour began to return. "It... Wasn't your fault?"

"I would never walk away from that fight," she whispered, furious at his suggestion that she would do. "I would never walk away from... From..."

"From what?" the former black ranger asked, the former sly smirk that she had come to recognise and love passing across his lips. "I can't hear you?"

"From you," she said, stretching up onto the balls of the feet to bring her face closer to his. "From all you guys. Luke. Ryan. Nahir. Xavier. Paige... Okay, forget Paige..."

"But...?" Duo asked, his nose almost touching hers. "There's something that you're missing out. Deliberately, methinks."

"Of course I'd never let you down," she said, almost furious. Despite the apparent lack of interest in life over the past two years, it hadn't taken long for his old obnoxious self to resurface. The one that she knew so well.

"It was terrible," he said, some of the shell shock that he had suffered across the last two years already resurfacing as the terrible memories returned to him. "That defeat to the Coppingers... They took Paige, reconditioned her into what she is now. It was a two pronged attack, they lured us to the mainland and attacked in groups. Splitting us up, they quickly managed to beat the five of us, all while Paige took the Silver Gyarados."

She could see that he was visibly suffering again, despite the sarcastic happy go lucky side having briefly shown up a few moments earlier, he had been damaged by the last two years. That much was obvious, the most heartbreaking thing she had seen since arriving in this time by a mile.

"I managed to get away," he said, lamely. "I wandered the region, inconsolable and desolate. Not just for the general doom that was rising around me. Not for every other ranger, but that I thought you had abandoned us. I never thought that you'd do that, which is..."

"Duo, I'm going to say it again. I didn't..."

"I know," he groaned. "I've carried those scars for two years. Guess they've been ripped back open again in the half hour. And believe me, it hurts. I never knew what happened to you... And I never got the chance..."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, the smallest trickle of a tear peeling down her cheek. "This... This shouldn't have happened to you. Duo... Damn Clarence for this..."

"Never got the chance to tell you..." he repeated, only to be cut off mid sentence. As she kissed him, holding the motion for several seconds before breaking away.

"I can't make it up to you," she replied, sadly. "Not here, but when I return back to my own time..."

This time, it was her turn to be interrupted as he pulled her back to repeat the gesture that she had brought upon him.

"You have no idea..." he said, softly. "... How long I've been wanting some closure. One way or another. Part of me wanted to know that you were dead, part of me wanted you to be alive so that I could tell you the whole shocking mix of how I feel. About..."

"It's not going to happen!" she exclaimed, his hand slipping around her waist to rest on her back. "Listen to me. When I get back there, I'm going to tear RoboRat's head off."

"Love it when you talk dirty," he muttered, part of the old Duo appearing again. Just for a moment, the smirk carrying out across the entire room. "Carry on, please!"

"Personally..." she said, the two of them moving back in for another kiss, this time in synch with each other. "... I think actions speak louder than words."

After that, the whole thing started to blur between the two of them. Her hands active, Katie went to pull Duo's shirt away over his shoulders, still engaged in the passionate act, breaking away only to get the shirt over his head...

* * *

"You think they're making up in there?" Danny wondered, the rest of Organa stood outside the room, looking at each other uncomfortably. They'd heard a few shouts at first, before the talking had become too quiet to hear.

"Personally, Danny," Violet said, turning back to the golden pistol that she had been working on. "I don't think that you should be so interested. Those two haven't seen each other for a while, as far as I can tell it."

"There was definitely some se... tension there," Sean remarked, leaning back against the desk. The former blue ranger having checked his words upon remembering that Claire was still in the vicinity. "So, where do you think we should go from here? How can we hurt the Coppingers more than anything?"

"Cut Dennis' head off?" Lucria suggested. "And then set fire to him, just to be on the safe side."

"Since we now have a pretty good idea where Dennis' office is in the main Coppinger building," Claydol offered. "I can teleport one of you in there. Although, it is incredibly dangerous. There's a huge chance you might not come out."

"Hell, I'd do it," Violet offered, picking up the golden pistol from the bench in front of her. "Now, let's see..."

"Don't shoot that thing in here," Sean said, quickly. "This place is a no fire zone. If you want to shoot it, go outside and fire it up into the air six or seven times. That's not at all irresponsible."

"OH YES!"

The shout came from within the closet that Katie and Duo had vanished into several minutes earlier, the members of Organa all hearing it with surprise.

"I don't get it," Claire said, a puzzled look on her face. "Is Duo..."

"Claire, you're not that naive, so don't try it," Violet remarked, giving the young teenager a stern look. "Seriously."

"I know, but it's funny watching you guys tiptoe around it," she said, grinning. "Right? Right?"

"Claydol," Danny said. "Get me into Dennis' office. I think it's time that we met. Face to face."

"Danny, wait!" Lucria interrupted, causing him to halt. "Not yet. Give it some time, get yourself in the right frame of mind before you run in there. It's essentially a run into the unknown, anything could happen."

"She's right," Claire said. "The odds of you succeeding without preparation are far longer than those that would result if you went in with some preparation. I'd say that they'd possibly be increased by just under half."  
"At least you're not quoting odds this time," Danny commented. "I'll go at dawn."

"Why's that then?" Claire wondered, this time looking puzzled. "Why dawn?"

"It's traditional," Sean said. "You attack at dawn, after a good night's sleep, but also while the enemy are still having happy dreams of victory."

"You also get executed at dawn," Violet pointed out. "But, I'm not focusing on the negative."

"Danny, if you get in there and it comes down to it with Dennis," Claydol said, looking over at the vigilante. "He is essentially human right now. He still does still hold some of the power of the Genesis Book, but he is a man. If you strike him down, it will go against everything that you and every other Poké Ranger has stood for over those years. Just want you to think about it."

"Those days are long gone anyway," Danny said, bitterly. "We're not going to get them back. Who cares. Maybe that's the reason that the Genesis Rangers lost in the first place. They weren't willing to do whatever it took to strike him down and his roving gang of psychopaths. If I lose a part of myself killing him, it'll be for the greater good."

Taking a step back, he picked up his leather coat and began to walk towards the stairs.

"Until dawn then," he said, slinging the item over his arm. "If anyone needs me, I'll be outside training."

* * *

"Katie."

"Yeah?"

"Do me a favour."

"What?"

Looking down at him, she saw the grin flash up across his face, as his hand rubbed against her shoulder.

"When you get back to your own time," Duo said, the grin growing ever wider. "Don't make past me wait that long. Please!"

"Depends if past you is being an annoying moron," she commented, laying back down next to him. "That happens from time to time."

"People change," he muttered. "Well, you haven't. You're exactly the same as I remember you. And now I've got some new experiences of you. Neat."

"Treasure them," she quipped, patting him on the chest. "They're not going to last. Because I'm going to do my damndest to ensure that you never exist."

"Lucky me," he said, rolling over to pick up his watch. "Huh, we slept through until dawn. How about that?"

"Can't help but get the feeling that we're missing something important," Katie remarked, going over to where she had discarded her dress. "I'm just going to get something to drink. You want anything?"

"A really great view of you as you walk out of here?" he joked, grinning at her with what he probably considered understated charm.

"So, in other words, no," she muttered, pulling the straps around her shoulders. "Okay, catch you in a moment."

* * *

Stepping out into the main area, Katie realised quickly that the place was almost deserted. There was no sign of Claydol, Danny, Sean, Violet or Lucria, only Claire remained, the young teenager eating a sandwich while looking at something on the battered laptop on the desk in front of her in the middle of the room.

"Hey," Katie said, closing the door behind her. "Everything okay?"

"You've been in there for six hours, forty seven minutes and twenty eight seconds," Claire remarked, not looking up. As the former ranger moved closer, she could see a RageCandyBar on the desk next to her, the wrapper slightly scuffed but the words readable. "It's only a small closet."

"Not when you move it around," Katie replied, rubbing the back of her head. "So... Where is everyone?"

"Sean and Violet are testing weapons upstairs," Claire answered, still not looking up as she took another bite of her sandwich. "Lucria went out to steal some food... Funny how if shop owners see a Lucario wander in and swipe stuff, they don't say anything."

"Surprised they don't try to catch her," Katie mused. "And Danny?"

"Oh, he's gone to confront Dennis in a possible fight to the death," Claire said, nonchalantly. "Claydol went with him. Why he went alone, I don't know. The odds of him coming back alive are slim. Possibly as much as twelve million four hundred thousand five hundred and sixty nine to one."  
"He did what?" Katie asked, incredulous at the claim that had been made. "Is he a moron? That's unbelievably stupid. Facing Dennis alone."

"At least he's got the bottle to do it," Claire muttered bitterly, before switching the laptop off. "Unlike some people."

The harsh sting of her comment caught the former ranger like a slap to the face, forcing her to almost round on Claire in anger.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You were my hero..." Claire said, finally bringing her head up to look at her, the scorn clearly visible within her eyes. "Guess that was a waste of time. You were just a great big quitter when the going got tough."

That stung her. Again.

"Heroes always disappoint you," Katie shot back, angry at the remark that had been thrown at her. "Sorry to tell you that."

"Either way, the logical outcome of Danny's bout with Dennis is that he is not going to survive," Claire said. "Yet, as the saying goes; Live for nothing. Die for something. I'll have a lot more respect for him after this than I will for you ever again."

"Claire..."

"Don't talk to me," the teenager muttered, walking away up the stairs towards the exit. "I don't want to hear it."

Even as she vanished, Katie had opened her mouth to try and explain what had happened. Even if she had been able to, there was no guarantee that Claire would have believed her. Thinking to herself, she realised that she wouldn't probably believe it either if the roles were reversed.

Still musing on the events, it then struck her that Danny could probably use some help. If nothing else, she might be able to stop him from going through with an almost certainly suicidal attempt at defeating the Coppinger leader.

Shaking her head, unable to believe what it was that she was about to do, Katie began to follow Claire away up the stairs to the ground level of the warehouse, wondering if she should try and find some sort of weapon that could be used in her impromptu rescue attempt.

* * *

"What is your secret?" Dennis mused, looking down at the gauntlet in front of him, his fingers absentmindedly tracing the pattern across the item. "Come on. Reveal it all to me. What were you used for? Why won't you give that information to me."

Sitting back in frustration, he began to look at it again, trying to take in the appearance of the item with fresh eyes. What would someone seeing it for the first time recognise in it, what would it tell to them that it didn't to him?

That was when he sensed it, a mild disturbance in the molecules of the air around him. Ever since the influx of Genesis-based power into him, the perception levels of his senses had risen, risen much more than he would ever have expected...

... As the answer became apparent, Black Phoenix appearing out of thin air in the middle of the room to charge at him. The Leaf Blade in his hand came up, the muscles flexing to hurl it forward and pierce Dennis' heart.

Seeing the action come out almost in slow motion, the laboured twist of the dagger sweeping away through the air towards him, Dennis brought his hand up and dispelled it into dust with an almost imperceptible blast of Genesis energy.

"You would dare to enter my lair?" he roared, getting to his feet. "Suppose I've got to give you credit, not many would be suicidally reckless enough to do that. Plus, it saves me the trouble of looking for you, although I guess my search and assault teams are just going to find your empty lair now..."

Yelling in anger at the comment, Black Phoenix threw himself towards the Coppinger, the sword in his other hand coming up to strike him down...

... Only for Dennis to bring the five hundred pound desk up off the carpet with one hand and hurl it towards the vigilante. Unable to avoid it, Danny took the full force of the item to the chest, feeling the heavier weight of the wooden object hurl him back across the room.

"I liked that desk as well," Dennis snarled, reaching up to pluck a sword up off the wall behind him. A simple silver broad sword, the blade was heavily polished, enough for the light to reflect away off it as he swept it around. "Just something else that I'm going to execute you for!"

* * *

"Hey, you guys seen Katie?" Duo asked, walking out into the main room of the Organa base. "I thought that she was out here."

"Nah, she's not here, man," Sean replied, as both Violet and Claire shook their heads. "Just us. Just us."

"Know where she is?"

"Why do you care so much?" Claire wondered, slightly spitefully. "It'd be just like her to run out on you. Again."

"She didn't run out on me before," Duo replied, glaring at her. "I thought I had the facts, but... I was wrong. It happens."

"Of course it does," Violet said, trying to keep the peace. "You just have to..."

"Guys!"

Interrupting the former ranger, everyone present was interrupted by the sound of Lucria's shout and the sight of her charging down the stairs.

"That doesn't sound good," Duo muttered, rolling his eyes. "Sound, look, feel... I don't know."

"Hate to break it to you," the PokéMorph said. "But, we need to get out of here. There's about fifty CSF guys heading in our direction. In addition to a stack of Doombots."

"It never rains, huh?" Sean asked. "Time to head out the back way..."

"How did they find us here?" Claire wondered. "We're well hidden, it shouldn't have... Unless there's something that we didn't know."

"There's a lot we don't know," Violet commented, walking over to one of the laptops. "Let's see if we can find a secure route out of here, one where we're not going to... Holy crap, that's not good."

"What?" Duo asked, coming over to look at what she'd found. "What's going on? What have you found?"

"We're completely surrounded," Sean announced, moving over to look at a different monitor. One showing the same thing as what Violet had looked at, the pictures revealing a multitude of figures surrounding the warehouse. "They haven't gotten in yet, but it's surely a matter of time."

"We're boned," Claire said, folding her arms. "Maybe we should throw cakes at them."

* * *

Leaping back into action, Danny swung his sword towards Dennis, only for the Coppinger to bring his own up and block the strike with barely a flinch. As the blades clanged together in anger, Dennis used his superior strength to hurl Danny back across the room, sending the vigilante crashing against the wall.

"You're messing with forces you have no comprehension of," he warned, advancing on the fallen former ranger. "When you die, will you rise from the ashes I wonder?"

"Guess we're going to have to find out," Danny taunted, leaping up to try a roundhouse kick towards his foe. Laughing manically at the attempted assault on him, Dennis stepped back, striking the blunt side of the blade against Danny's leg to send him back to the ground. Wincing in pain at the bruise that was already appearing on the back of his leg, he tried to push it away to the back of his mind and land a blow with his sword. This time, Dennis brought his own up to parry it and managed to shatter the blade completely, leaving the vigilante with just a stumped handle in his grasp.

Gasping in shock, Danny made an attempt to try and roll away from where he was, escaping from the attack range of his foe, something that Dennis didn't try and stop him from doing.

"Run, Phoenix, run!" he taunted, turning to hurl a burst of Genesis energy at the doors behind him, those that Danny had tried to escape through. "Right, that's your running up."

"Terrific," Danny muttered, his exasperation growing by the second as Dennis raced forward, ready to slash out at him with the sword again. Twisting to dodge the thrust of deadly metal, he began to strip his leather coat off, twisting it around his hands to give at least some protection. Jumping over towards his opponent, the vigilante managed to snag some of it around the weapon, preventing it from being as effective. Growling with the effort needed to do so, he brought his knee up and struck Dennis in the stomach, momentarily winding him.

"You can't win," the Coppinger hissed, recovering faster than Danny had expected. Twisting the sword away in a horizontal swipe, he managed the almost impossible, jerking Danny off his feet to throw him into the ground.

* * *

"You hear me?" Sean asked, his voice tiny in the earpieces worn by Violet and Lucria. "Are you there?"

"We're in position, Sean," Violet replied. "Above the entrances. None of those things are getting in here on our watch."

"I see them approaching," Lucria muttered, peeking through the window to see an assortment of CSF goons and Doombots approaching. "Ready and waiting for orders to commence the task of defending this place."

"You're waiting for instructions?" Duo demanded, almost shouting into the communication device. "What the... Just fire at will."

"Which one's Will?" Violet asked, lightly making the old joke. "Anyway, I hear you."

Jumping up, she smashed a hole through the window with the butt of her Auto Blaster, sending a shower of fragments down on top of the group below. Although the Doombots seemed unfazed by the razor sharp assault, the Coppinger Security Force grunts were visibly affected. Even more so as Violet flipped the weapon and began to fire down towards them, unleashing the full force of her Auto Blaster down into them.

Across the other side of the room, Lucria had already started to do the same. Switching into Lucario form, she began to hurl Aura Sphere after Aura Sphere down towards anyone trying to invade through the rear entrance.

* * *

Rather than trying to repel the waves entering from above, Sean, Duo and Claire were down on the ground floor, ready for the few that would inevitably break past the upper level guardians. Having knocked the countless crates to the ground for cover, they were grouped in the middle, Sean with the Fin Blaster ready and primed, while Duo had his Genesis Blaster in his hands.

"Hey, dude," he said, looking over to the other man. "We get out of here, I suggest somewhere a little better next time."

"Didn't see you complaining while you were here," Sean replied, as one of the doors below the side that Violet was defending burst open. It didn't take long for a pair of Doombots to erupt through the gap, the two former rangers both bringing their weapons up to down the two robots before they could get much further into the room.

"Don't I get a weapon?" Claire asked, as the other set of doors at the opposite entrance slammed open to reveal a rabble of enemies racing in. "I mean... Ah, forget it."

Rather than wait for an answer, she reached over to Sean, pulling his Blade Blaster free before starting to shoot at the approaching foes.

"Why did we not think of that sooner?" Duo wondered, the rhetorical question hanging for a moment, before he dropped the issue and fired his Genesis Blaster twice more, removing the head of a Doombot.

* * *

Walking out into the alley, the very place that she had nearly been executed earlier, Katie thought that she heard the sound of heavy breathing. Glancing around in surprise, she quickly realised the source, an exhausted Claydol collapsed on the ground behind one of the many dumpsters.

"Claydol!" she yelled, moving towards the Pokémon. "Are you okay?"

Rather than reply, the ground and psychic type creature instead let out a groan of pain, unable to do much more.

"Come on," she said, patting him on the head. "Talk to me. What happened to you?"

"Teleporting..." Claydol groaned, his words faint. Even his breaths were starting to come more shallow, the Pokémon surely close to the end. "... Danny into... office. There's something... Ouch..."

She could see that Claydol was trembling, the force of whatever had happened to him clearly causing him great agony.

"Keep it together, Claydol," she whispered. "You can beat this. Use Recover. You have to..."

"Recover heals body," he groaned, his normally orange eyes turning white. The smallest trace of blood was starting to seep out of them, the pain getting worse for him by the second. "Not mind. I... teleported Danny in there. It rebounded on me."

Again, he let out a shattered tremble of agony, almost too weak to continue.

"I'm finished," the Pokémon groaned, letting his head drop back to the ground. "There's no way... pulling through this. Save... Save... Save..."

"I don't think I can save you," she said, sadly placing a hand on his stomach. "Sorry. I don't..."

"Save Danny!" Claydol howled, a wave of blue energy erupting out from his body, its touch racing out to sweep across Katie. Within seconds of it touching her, she had vanished completely from view, leaving Claydol alone where he lay.

And, at virtually the same moment, the Pokémon collapsed, his bleeding eyes blank and soulless. With a violet jerk, the final breath exhaled out from his lungs, leaving him motionless in the alley.

* * *

"Screw this," Violet muttered, dropping her Auto Blaster to the ground, the enemy figures below coming thick and fast. Reaching around behind her back, she brought out the golden pistol that she had been working on earlier, extending out the barrel and the back before bringing a scope from the pack across her back and fixing it across the top. "Okay, Spencer, your weapon is in good hands."

Bringing the K9 Rifle up, she picked up a foe in the scope and pulled the trigger, dropping the Doombot to the ground. Not pausing, she was already moving onto another target, a semi-familiar flash of strawberry blond hair appearing in the crowd below. Before she could register what it meant, the figure had left her focus, moving towards the entrance below.

"Uh oh," Duo heard Sean mutter, the former black ranger turning to see someone that he hadn't expected to arrive on the scene. And it wasn't a reunion that filled him with bright positive thoughts, instead casting him full of dread.

Paige!

Already, his former team mate was heading towards the three of them, a murderous look on her face. Both Sean and Claire had focused their weapons on her, both ready to strike her down in the name of self defense...

... Only for their attacks to phase straight through her, not causing her any damage at all. Groaning in anger, Duo turned to launch several blasts from his Genesis Blaster towards her, all of them coming to nothing. Only a cruel smirk appearing across her face as she looked at him.

"Seriously?" she asked, sarcastically. "You of all people should know better."

* * *

Springing up to attack, Danny slammed a punch into Dennis' face, the blow momentarily staggering the Coppinger, only for him to recover faster than before, grabbing Danny by the shoulders and hurling him up against the ceiling. As the vigilante known as Black Phoenix bounced off the ceiling, the Coppinger spun and kicked him against the wall.

"What are you actually trying to get from this?" Dennis wondered, moving towards him. As Danny struggled to get up to his feet, starting to feel the effects of the tremendous blows that he had been dealt, he kicked him back up into the air, grabbing Black Phoenix by the arm and twisting him in midair. As a ferocious crack rang out, the bones in his shoulder shattering, Danny let out an agonised howl of pain and flopped to his knees.

"What are you hoping to achieve here?" Dennis asked, repeating the gist of his question from before. "Why are you fighting me?"

For several moments, several long moments, he waited, hoping to hear Danny answer his question. When no answer came, the Coppinger found himself losing patience. Rather than wait much longer, he spun the former ranger around, one hand on the side of his head and one on his shoulder.

"Farewell," he muttered, the sharp crack following the sudden turn. Not even a gasp emerging from the figure below him, as the body went limp in his grasp, the knowledge that he had gained victory over the elusive opponent filling Dennis up with hot steamy glee.

That was when the doors slammed open, Katie appearing in the open space between them. Even as he saw her, Dennis let out another burst of manic laughter, dropping the lifeless body to the floor.

"You're just in time," he taunted. "Time to witness the end of that pathetic little resistance. Even as we speak, a battalion of my strongest forces are overwhelming that warehouse. There will be no survivors. And I keep on living, free to carry on as I choose."

It was over. The invading forces had won, the arrival of Paige contributing heavily to their victory. Now, the several figures found themselves on their knees in the middle of the warehouse, their conqueror striding around above them with little show of compassion.

"It's over," she said, simply. "You're not getting out of this. It is time. Time for you to accept that this world is not going to change, that no matter how hard you fight, we are going to win."

* * *

"It's not going to happen, Dennis!" Katie exclaimed. "You think you've won, but you haven't. You're not even close to victory."

"My enemies are about to be wiped from the face of this planet," he crowed. "And I remain at the top of the league. I and I alone have done what nobody else has ever done. Something that none of these so called super villains have even come close to doing. I defeated you. I won! I beat the Poké Rangers and conquered the world. How is that not a victory?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," she replied. "However, I'm going to make a promise to you. No matter how long it takes, no matter how much I go through, I am going to stop you. I am seeing it to the very end, when you inevitably fail in your task, I'll be there to twist the knife in."

"Now, you're being irrational," he smirked. "Look around you, you stupid little girl. I have already won. No matter how many inspirational things you come out with, it's not going to change that fact."

Another wave of laughter erupting from him, the shattering sound of glass, the Coppinger brought up his hand and directed an invisible vortex of energy towards her. Steadying herself, Katie saw the Fire Stone on the wall behind Dennis start to shimmer with a bright red energy, something flashing within it.

His eyes completely focused on his prey, Dennis was already preparing himself for the sight of her flying back through the doors, slamming against the wall in a lifeless wreck. Only for the smile to be completely wiped from his face, as she held her hand up and blocked the attack. The two of them momentarily connected by the wave, he suddenly felt the waves of worry rush through him. Especially as the air began to grow hot in his hand, the realisation that her ability to generate heat had returned to her.

"But... But..." he whispered, growing more worried by the second. "That's impossible."

"Apparently so," she replied, darkly. In one swift movement, she grabbed hold of the vortex with both hands, jerking it like a whip...

... the resulting crack hurling Dennis back through the air. His connection to it broken, he felt himself slam against the window, cracks already starting to appear against the glass as he hit it and remained there.

"Still feel so invincible?" she asked, taking a step forward towards him. "I'll wager that you..."

* * *

That was when she realised she was suddenly back in her cabin on the Silver Gyarados, Clarence stood in front of her.

"Damnit, I almost had him," she howled, whacking her fist against her other palm in frustration. "Why did you do that?"

"Keep calm," Clarence warned, his eyes impassively staring at her. "That's not a Dennis that exists yet."

"Yeah, but Danny...!"

"That's a Daniel Dragonfly that doesn't exist yet," Clarence insisted, placing both hands on her shoulders. "Listen to me. None of that was real. None of it will happen if you keep doing what you were doing before you had this little hissy fit. This crisis of confidence if that's what you want to call it."

"So, what was the point of it?" she demanded, her fury not complete subsided from the experience. "Just a harsh reminder to keep toeing the line. A little glimpse of what could have been."

"Partly, yes," the Conduit answered. "However, I'm going to ask you to not dwell on the majority of what you envisaged in that which I showed you. Most of it is no longer irrelevant. None of the people involved will know anything about it, only you. Everything as is it was before I showed up and took you there. Should you get in contact with Dragonfly, Fubrizzi, Skycloud, Dimon and Springfield, they will be as they were. All living normal lives. Mr. Dragonfly is currently in Sinnoh, readying himself for a challenge with the Sinnoh Elite Four. Mr. Fubrizzi is still with UAFOH. Miss Skycloud is doing some guard work for a musical group. Miss Dimon is enjoying a life after the fight against Team Chronos and Miss Springfield is putting her considerable intellect to good use. What a future she has, by the way. Both her and her brother. You of course know about Mr. Roronoa, he's currently in several rooms down the hallway."

"Yeah, that's all well and good," Katie replied, folding her arms. "But, you mentioned something about only most of it being irrelevant?"

"Somewhere, in that entire matrix of imagery that I concocted for you, there was one grain of truth that can help you against one major foe, one that up until now you have been unable to gain an upper hand against."

"Kinda sounds like all of them."

"Think about it, Miss Myers," Clarence said, a cryptic smile crawling across his face. "I cannot interfere with the quest itself, including direct details on how to destroy your enemies. However, in the process of keeping you on the right path, I was able to twist the rules to throw you a titbit, a trifle of detail that may just keep you ahead of the chasing pack."

"So, you're being helpful then?" she said, managing to pack as much sarcasm into her voice as was humanly possible. "Brilliant."

"In a way, yes," he replied. "It's all I can do. I can't offer you direct advice. Not about your quest or about the future, but I can tell you not to worry so much. If you follow what you saw, you'll have one less problem. And it will get easier. Help is everywhere, if you can find it. Good hunting, Miss Myers."

With those words, a brutally strong wind burst through the cabin, the powerful wave of air forcing Katie to squeeze her eyes shut. Despite the huge gale force winds racing through the room, nothing seemed to be shaking, nothing damaged by the miniature tornado that had seemingly erupted out of nowhere. Almost as soon as it had appeared, it vanished, allowing her to open her eyes again.

"Thanks for something, Clarence," she muttered, rolling her eyes as she realised that the Conduit had vanished. "Even if I'm not sure what it is yet."

* * *

"No!"

The terrified howl escaped from RoboRat's mouth as the barrage of poison tipped needles erupted from the hands of the six Cobra Rangers in front of him, the blast hurling him back against the wall. No longer able to defend himself, even the robotic parts of his body were in complete agony from the assault, he dropped to his knees and began to beg for his life.

"Please, don't kill me. Don't kill the Super Rat! It'd be a cruel place the world, if I wasn't in it. Come on, have a heart."

"You're wrong on two counts," Cobra Red said, stepping forward with barely veiled contempt. His arm glowing with a bright purple energy as he walked menacingly towards the figure. "One, we don't have hearts. Two, the world will be such an ever more cruel place when we are done with it."

Not hesitating, he brought his fist up and smashed RoboRat against the wall again, the poison backed blow breaking the two front teeth away from the rest of his mouth.

"Poison Jab!"

Again, the blow rang out, the deadly venom scouring away through RoboRat's system. As the mutant let loose another bloodcurdling scream of pain, Cobra Red picked him up and brutally smashed him against the wall. Repeating the action over and over, he finally threw him up into thw air, before retreating to join the other Cobra Rangers.

"Terror Cannon!"

At the six commands, the Arbok shaped cannon appeared in the hands of the six evil rangers, the group hefting it up to aim at the airborne RoboRat.

"Fire!" Cobra Red roared, the opened mouth of the weapon starting to glow with a powerful purple energy. Within moments, that energy had been expelled, streaming out of the cannon to punch a hole through RoboRat's stomach. As the mutant hit the ground, he exploded into thousands of pieces.

"Oh yes!" Cobra Black groaned, tensing his muscles in ecstasy. "That's the stuff. That feel's awesome."

"Soon," Cobra Yellow laughed, rubbing her hands together. "Soon, we shall be ready. Ready for the final battle."

* * *

"So, Mal," Tim said, the two of them walking away through the alley behind Lampard's Bar in Red Moon City. "What do you think the future holds for us?"

"I don't quite get what you mean," Mal replied, bemusement in both his face and voice. "We'll be in the future, right?"

"Presumably, we will be," Tim said. "I mean, if someone saw a vision of the future, say two years down the line, what sort of role would we play in it?"

"I guess that depends on what sort of future there is," Mal remarked. "Because, if it's a dystopia run by a gang of criminals, we would either be in jail for resisting them..."

"Or we'd be collaborating," Tim commented. "Thanks, bud. That's made me feel so much better."

"Personally, I don't think of myself as a collaborator," Mal said. "I mean... It's such a dirty word. I prefer traitor. Or..."

"Turncoat?"

"Judas?"

"Convert?"

"Yeah, that works," Mal said, nodding in glee. "Convert. It has such peaceful religious overtones. And nothing involving religion could ever turn violent right?"

"Of course," Tim replied, just a little sarcastically. "Because all religion is peaceful. Are you having a laugh?"

"Not yet," Mal answered. "Not until now. Haha!"

"Right," Tim groaned, shaking his head in disbelief. "Anyway, where do we..."

Cutting him off, a crackle rang out through the empty air in the middle of the alley, startling them both...

... And then a darkened figure fell out of a portal of pure electrical energy, landing down on the ground below. Letting out a pained groan, he rolled over onto his back to try and pick himself up. Revealing, across one of his hands, a golden gauntlet across one of his arms, the shiny metal having several indigo blue designs woven into the surface of it...

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Huh huh huh! How about that for a chapter then? Thought that I might have to change the rating of the story because of that part towards the middle. You know the one...**

**Apparently going through all that can give the characters drastically different personalities from what you usually see. What do you know.**

**Anyway, without further ado, thanks to Blazin' Saddles for the use of Danny, Sean, Violet and Claydol, Cyborg-Lucario for Lucria and that other guy for the use of Claire. What was his name again... Oh that's right, PikaFlash.**

**Thanks for the reviews, all appreciated.**

**It seems almost courtesy for me to end two parters on mysterious cliff hangers now. The last one had the appearance of the Dark Spectres, this one the guy in the alley. Who is it? Answers won't be revealed for a couple of chapters though. Not next chapter, nor the chapter after it... Maybe the one after that. I think.**

**And also, who was the woman who was talking to Dennis? Mysterious. I think. Hahaha.**

**On the next one, it's entitled Cobracide. Yeah, I think that's pretty self explanatory as to what's going to happen there. Up at some point, preview below.**

**Also, there's only seventeen chapters left... Woo, freaky. And then it's on to a brand new ranger story... Yay.**

**That's about it, so thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Please! Katie is replying today.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Thirty Five, Cobracide, preview.**

**Cobra Red: It is time to destroy our enemies.**

**Cobra Blue: We are at our full power.**

**Cobra Black: Never to be stronger...**

**Cobra Green: Never to be weaker...**

**Cobra Yellow: This is the end.**

**Cobra Purple: Our final confrontation.**

**Katie: Bring it on!**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	35. Cobracide

Chapter Thirty Five. Cobracide.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As she and Black Phoenix made their escape from the alley, the two of them encountered Lucria Dimon, a PokéMorph and former ranger from Holon who acted as his scout. As they found the hideout, the three of them met the rest of Organa. Including Duo, the former ranger depressed and angry after the apparent betrayal that she had meted out onto him. As she gave him the true version of the facts, he quickly softened his resolve and the two of them resolved their conflict. As that happened, Danny went to fight Dennis. The Coppinger leader having being revealed to have a superior, he easily defeated the powerless Danny. Meanwhile, Paige lead an assault on the Organa hideout, while Katie went to try and help Danny. With the aid of the wounded Claydol, she managed to get in and rebound Dennis' attack on him. Before she could defeat him, she was brought back to her regular time. A time where the Cobras declared their intentions to have the final battle with the rangers and a mysterious figure appeared in an alley, wearing an item that Dennis had in the future..._

_

* * *

_

"And then I was back in the cabin, trying to work out what happened. Right on cue, Clarence appears and starts to offer his version of an explanation," Katie said, looking around at everyone aboard the bridge. "That was when..."

"Okay, wow," Xavier muttered. "That's... Incredible. A little hard to believe as well."

"Now, you're doubting me?" Katie demanded. "Brilliant, that's all we need to carry things on. Remember all the times I thought you were crazy?"

"When were those exactly?" Luke asked, glancing up with interest at the two rangers glaring at each other. "How many times as he made wild sweeping statements and you've believed him."

"There's got to be something in the back history between us," Katie said, looking over to the purple ranger. "Anyway, you believe me, don't you?"

"I don't know," he replied. "On the one hand it sounds like it could be true. On the other hand, there wasn't enough me in it, so it's probably utter crap. Insane crap. So..."

"Were none of us there?" Paige asked, staring at Katie. "Did you find out what happened to us? Where we were?"

"Duo was there," the red ranger replied. "Playing an active role in things..."

She paused for a moment, debating whether or not to go on with the version of the story that she had already told. The almost completely accurate one, the only parts being omitted being her tryst with Duo and Paige's role in the entire thing."

"... And that's it. I assumed you guys either collaborated or went to jail."

"So, you didn't try to break us out?" Ryan asked, a mock shocked look on his face. "Some friend you are. Honestly, what's the..."

"I was only there for two days and I didn't know where to even start looking!" Katie snapped, rounding on him. "I'd like to have seen you do better in the circumstances. Seriously, get over it. If it had really happened for real, then..."

"What about us?" Bill asked, both the PokéManiac and Lance looking over with interest. "What role did we play in this? This thing that you're claiming to have..."

"I don't know, okay? It was short and... By the time I got really into it, it was over. Clarence dragged me down here. All I know is that some piece of information I heard there is going to be useful in helping us defeat a threat here."

With that, she shot a nervous smile at the rest of the group, before revealing the final part of the details.

"Problem is, I don't know what that is."  
"So... This was just a pleasant little story then?" Nahir asked, sarcastically. "Brilliant."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord and North Wind Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

_"In other news, thirty two martial arts trained teenagers have been mutilated heavily after they were forced into fighting an Ursaring with their bare hands. If you'll pardon the pun. President of Orre, Carlos Soldado, who sponsored the team of fighting champions shrugged it off, and said only that he thought since they outnumbered the Ursaring thirty two to one that they would be able to outwit the frenzied Pokémon who had been poked with a stick for eight days prior to the fight. And now sports!"_

"So, was it really true?"

Looking up from the bizarre radio report which was playing in the gym, Katie saw Duo walk into the room, an interested look on his face.

"Was what really true?" she asked, turning to kick the leather bag. "The whole story that everyone thinks that I made up?"

"Well, be honest, it does sound like crap," he said. "I mean... Seriously? An alternate future where the Coppingers win and we're all in prison camps, not doing anything to help anyone or living in a crappy warehouse basement? That's... Unless you can give me something that..."

_"... After his Inter Saffron team were beaten on penalty kicks by Levski Pastoria..."_

"Anything?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "If I could tell you anything, anything that sounds remotely accurate, you'd believe it?"

"Suppose I would," he said, leaning over to whack one of the punchballs. "Anything? Anything at all?"

"Well, there was one thing..." she replied, looking him up and down with a grin. All in the process of trying to work out how best to say what she really wanted to, the events still fairly vivid in her mind...

* * *

"It is time to destroy our enemies," Cobra Red laughed, beating his fist down onto the table in front of him.

"We are at our full power," Cobra Blue continued, also joining in with the laughter, the concept amusing him somehow.

"Never to be stronger..." said Cobra Black, folding his arms in silent seriousness, unlike the other two.

"Never to be weaker..." Cobra Green remarked, the evil ranger going through the process of buffing up his gauntlets as he did so, a mirthful tone in his voice as he did so.

"The is the end," Cobra Yellow smirked, cracking her knuckles together.

"Our final confrontation," Cobra Purple finished. "The point where we take down ranger and Coppinger alike."

"We shall take to the streets," Cobra Red said, leaning forward over the battered old table. "Destroy anything in our path. Eventually, someone will try to stop us. We defeat them, we grow stronger with the experience."

"I want dibs on the black ranger," Cobra Black laughed, leaning both arms behind his head. "If anyone else tries for him, then they'll have to answer to me."

"We all would like to destroy our own counterpart," Cobra Yellow told him. "But don't be precious about it."

"What is our plan?" Cobra Blue asked. "Split up, or go together in one group."

"There's a case for both arguments," Cobra Purple offered, stroking her chin. "Together we are stronger, but that works in reverse for them. They're weaker separately."

"Shall we split up then?" Cobra Green asked, shrugging his shoulders. "Since we don't have a clue."

* * *

"Meredith, dear?"

Looking up from where she was reading her magazine, the Coppinger Elite raised an eyebrow towards him, a fraction of her wondering what it was that he wanted.

"Yes?"

"I think it's time we tried again," Harley said, rolling his eyes at her indifference. "It's time that we made another play for an artefact."

"You want me to pick a Pokémon for you to infect?" she asked, getting up from where she was laid to move towards the stack of Poké Balls. "Hmm, let me see..."

Picking one of the red and white orbs up, the mutant moved to place it in front of her superior.

"Darken it up, Boss," Meredith said, eagerly.

Snickering slightly at both the concept and the joke that she had made, Harley brought his stinger up and shot a barrage of poison into the capsule. Barely seconds later, the item opened up, expelling out a shifting blast of white energy out to reveal the newly created creature.

"Luark!" Harley screamed, as the creature appeared in front of the two of them. It looked like a Lucario in the shape of the body and general features, but rather than being blue, the fur was black and red. The fur was also incredibly shaggy down his back, while he had the face of a Zoroark rather than a Lucario. In his hands, he carried a staff with a black jewel embedded at the peak. "Arise! Now!"

"I am here!" the strange mutant replied, looking around at them with a sinister smile. "Ready to strike out at this world."

"That's what we want to hear," Harley smiled. "Whatever you do, go!"

Bowing away, the figure vanished away in a flash of black and blue, leaving the two figures alone in their hideout.

"Harley," Meredith said, moving around to look at him with a confused expression. "Can I ask you a question?"

"If you've got nothing better to do," he replied, snarkily folding his arms. "What is it?"

"Do you know why it is that they automatically obey us without question when you create them, despite the fact that they mutate from Pokémon that we stole?"

"I don't care, as long as they do," Harley said, coldly. "Maybe it's the venom. You ever think of that?"

* * *

"We've got problems!"

The shout came from Bill, the alarms in the Silver Gyarados exploding away into life as the scanners picked up the scans of Genesis energy. Within moments, the alarms had brought the rangers into the room.

"Problems?" Luke asked, grinning despite the situation. "You mean other than our leader hallucinating?"

"Oh ha ha," Katie replied, moving over to punch him on the arm. "What is the problem?"  
"Looks like a mutant," Lance said, the picture of Luark appearing on the screens. "Garden variety. A while since we had one of those."

"Did you miss out our last little misadventure?" Duo wondered, glancing around at the Dragon Master. "With RoboRat?"

"There's no evidence that RoboRat was a mutant," Lance replied, smoothly. "In fact, he looked more like a cyborg. All in all..."

"Guys!" Nahir exclaimed, looking at the two of them. "Not important. Especially since we never saw him again. Which is all that matters."

"Let's go put this thing down then," Katie said, bringing her morpher up. "Right now!"

"Genesis Overload!"

Immediately morphing into their costumes, the seven figures turned to make a run towards the stored Hover Chasers.

* * *

Laughing manically at the extent of his actions, Luark brought his staff up and hurled a wave of black energy towards one of the buildings in Agueros Town. As the attack raked through the bricks and almost tore it into two pieces, he continued to laugh, unspeakably amused by his actions.

"Feel the darkness!" he snickered. "This is the end. The end of..."  
"Oi, idiot!"

Blanching slightly at the apparent arrogance by the unknown threat, Luark turned quickly, his annoyance turning to anger as he saw the seven ranger's arrive on the scene.

"Seriously..." Nahir said, looking at him with barely concealed irritation. "You have an endgame with this, or are you just trying to be an annoying moron?"  
"Quiet, fools," Luark laughed, raising his staff at them. "Your end is near. It is going to be my pleasure to destroy you all. For me to do what nobody else has ever managed."

"If you're going to do it," Ryan offered, glaring at the figure. "Do it. Don't talk about it."

Letting out another thrash of laughter, Luark swept his staff up to throw a blast of black energy towards the ranger...

... Only for a tremendous flurry of purple needles to screech through the air and block the blast. Barking out in shock at what had just happened, Luark turned to see the Cobra Rangers walking onto the scene, all of them having used their Poison Sting attacks to block the blast.

"Those rangers are ours to destroy," Cobra Yellow said, angrily. "You have no right to them."

"We have sought longer than you can imagine to destroy them," Cobra Blue snapped, almost ready to attack Luark again. "Stand down until we can make room in our time to destroy you."

"This is... Worrying," Luke said. "Don't we get a choice on who to fight."

"Guys," Paige offered, looking over towards Luark. "I'll take him. How about you go and fight the Cobra Rangers?"

"You're just taking the easy way out," Duo said, sarcastically. Seconds before Paige reached over and tapped him on the head, more out of jest than intentionally hurting him. "Don't we get all the fun tasks."

"How about it?" Xavier asked, looking over at the Cobra Rangers. "Make our days."

"You shall regret those comments," Cobra Red snickered, clenching his fist out in front of him. "Today is the day that we destroy you."

"Bring it on!" Katie shouted, taking a step forward. "You guys are going down! Hard!"

At her challenge, the Cobra Rangers let loose savage furied howls and began to charge. All with the intention of finally finishing their arch-enemies off. Within roughly the same moment, Paige went the opposite way towards Luark.

* * *

Roaring out in fury, Cobra Green went for Ryan with all the finesse of a rampaging Tauros. Hurling both fists at the green ranger, three of them landed before Ryan could move away from the assault. Retaliating, he kicked back into Cobra Green's face, the strike barely fazing the evil ranger. Instead of staggering him, the gauntlet's on his arms began to glow with a purple energy.

"Poison Jab!"

Throwing out this arm, the poison backed blow was enough to hurl Ryan back through the air, the green ranger hitting a tree upon landing.

* * *

Across from the two of them, Nahir was brutally battling against Cobra Yellow, the evil yellow ranger spinning to hurl a roundhouse kick at her good counterpart. Barely managing to dodge the attack, Nahir went into tackle her, knocking the enemy to the ground where she punched her twice in the face. Growling furiously at the assault, Cobra Yellow pushed both her legs into the ground and managed to throw herself up, Nahir toppling off her. Still enraged by the attack, Cobra Yellow struck out to kick her opponent in the face.

* * *

"Come on!" Xavier called, he and Cobra Blue circling each other as the other rangers carried on with their fights. "Let's do this!"

Seconds later, he was on the ground, courtesy of Cobra Blue unleashing a Poison Jab to his stomach. Groaning in pain, he managed to spring up and strike back with a punch of his own, the blow surprising the evil ranger. Although it didn't hurt him as much as Xavier would have liked, the good blue ranger managed to carry on with the assault. A barrage of blows that Cobra Blue continued to take until he kicked Xavier straight up into the air.

* * *

Grimacing heavily, Luke brought out his Psycho Spear and lunged towards Cobra Purple. An attack that his evil counterpart easily moved away to the side to dodge, before kicking him in the stomach. Doubling over in pain, Luke felt her knee come up and smash into his face, before she grabbed him by the throat and tossed him to the ground.

Man, this is humiliating, he thought, rolling up onto his feet. The Spear having been lost in the attack, he brought his Genesis Blaster up and fired several times towards the counterpart. Something that she easily countered by unleashing a blast of Poison Sting attacks towards the laser attacks, cancelling them out.

* * *

Meanwhile, Duo hurled himself at Cobra Black, determined to race in quickly and hopefully do better than the rest of his ranger companions. Something that didn't really work as Cobra Black flung up an arm and flattened him to the ground. As the black ranger landed on the ground, he took a quick to the neck, the blow almost forcing his head off his shoulders. As sparks erupted in front of his eyes, he tried to roll away, the pain in his neck absolute. Jumping up, he flung out a fist towards his enemy, desperate to try and retaliate.

* * *

Finally, Katie went for Cobra Red, going in for a spin kick towards the evil counterpart. Not even reacting, he pushed her foot aside and shoved her back.

"Poison Sting!" he roared, bringing both hands up to shoot out the needles towards her. Reacting faster than she thought possible, Katie brought both Heat Blasters up...

... Still too late to counter, the razor sharp needles hit her in the chest and threw her down to her knees. It barely took a second for Cobra Red to exploit her weakness, the evil ranger charging forward to hit her in the chest with a powerful kick that hurled her back.

Hitting the ground, it suddenly struck Katie. What it was that Clarence had been trying to tell her, the information that he had cleverly hidden away in a web of futuristic events.

_"And yet so easy," Dennis replied, smugly blowing another barrage of smoke out. "See, there's something that Arbok discovered. The items that powered your morphers give off positive Genesis energy. The Cobra Rangers gave off a negative energy. When the two came together..."_

"Oh..."

* * *

"Come on!" Paige yelled, ducking under the staff attack that Luark had swung at her. Charging forward, she slid across the ground, under his legs to kick him in the back. As he pirouetted on the spot, swinging his staff out again, she transformed into her energy form and felt it pass through her.

"Too slow!" she cackled. "Ice Ball!"

Hurtling away through the air, she began to spin around and smash into Luark, bouncing away to carry on further with the attack. As another one came in on him, Paige was barely aware that Meredith had appeared in the background, a test tube full of venom in her hand.

"This is just boring now," she said. "I'm making it more interesting. For everyone."

Without hesitating, she brought her arm back and hurled the venom at Luark, the mutant instantly glowing with a white light before growing to a giant size.

"My enlarged frame will prove much beneficial in the noble act of destruction," the mutant said, smugly. "Now, what is your response to this new challenge."

"Awww, son of a..." Paige said, seeing the giant frame of Luark rise above her. "Double Team!"

As her body began to briefly glow with a white light, the white ranger quickly cloned herself into three completely separate entities, each of them taking up a fighting stance against the giant Luark.

"North Wind Megazord!"

At the command, the three figures grew, before transforming, the replicants into a Froslass and a Dewgong, while the original white ranger transformed into a Glaceon. Next, the three giant Pokémon shifted into robot forms and began to move into formation. The Froslass rotating upside down, its head shifting up to form feet, before it split in half. The bottom part of the Zord rising up to connect to the bottom of the Glaceon whose front limbs rose out in front of it to form some chest armour. The rear legs joining with the tip of the split Froslass. The Glaceon's head rose up to form the head of the Megazord, while the Dewgong split in half down the middle. The upper body and head going to form the left arm, while the bottom half of the body and the tail moved to the right arm.

"Let's do this!" she shouted, the left arm coming up to aim at Luark. "Ice Breaker!"

* * *

"Guys!" Katie shouted, picking herself up from where she had been thrown. "I've got an idea. One that might just work!"

"Yeah, because this is going so well," Duo called, picking himself up while rubbing at his neck. "What's next? We throw insults at them?"

"I think I understand now," she said. "Focus the power. Focus it inside you. Reach out and unleash the power of the gems. The ones that we draw our powers from."

"Are you out of your mind?" Luke wondered, glancing over at her. "How is that going to work?"

"I'll explain later," she said, quickly. "But, trust me. It's about all we've got."

"Other than attacking with hummus," Xavier commented. "Which was what I was about to suggest. But this is so much better."

"This is just pathetic," Cobra Purple commented, looking at the six of them. "We came here to look for a fight. Yet, you've disappointed us. This was meant to be the final fight... What do we get?"

"You know what...?" Ryan demanded, getting to his feet. "That's it! I've had it up to here with you guys! This ends now!"

Closing his eyes under his helmet, he quickly clenched his fist in front of him, the gloved hand shimmering with a green light. Within seconds, it had extended out across his entire body, the green parts of his armour now more so.

"You've hurt too many people to be allowed much longer in this world," Nahir continued, her entire body shining with pure yellow energy, the glare given off almost blinding the six Cobra Rangers as the artefact she drew her power from continued to cover her.

"You wanted a final fight?" Xavier demanded, the blue energy from his own artefact covering his body, the latent energy falling away off him to the ground before vanishing. "Well..."

"It's almost time," Luke remarked, flexing his muscles away, the shine of the purple energy almost making him look tougher. "You wanted a fight..."

"You've got one," Duo offered, his ranger suit glowering with the black energy from the Dusk Stone. "The fight of your lives."

"Because, you're about to feel the full force of the Poké Rangers!" Katie finished, her own suit powered up to the max with the energy from the Fire Stone she wore in her morpher. "You're going down!"

Their costumes still glowing with the energy, the rangers charged. Barely a split second later, not afraid at all by the new threat, the Cobra's made the same action, ready to battle.

Ducking out of the way of the Ice Breaker attack, Luark threw out his staff and hit the North Wind Megazord in the stomach with a darkness backed attack. The surprise strength of the blast was enough to shock Paige, especially as her controls began to go haywire in front of her.

"That really can't be good," she muttered, tapping away at the controls. "Lucky strike."

"All my strikes are measured entirely to cause the most damage possible," he called, his voice suddenly irritating and in singsong style. "So there."

This thing is really starting to annoy me, Paige thought to herself, moving for the controls. Let's see how he like's this.

"Sheer Cold!" she roared, hitting the command button to unleash the most powerful attack within the armoury of her Megazord.

At the command, the mouth slid open, unleashing a frigid blast of wind towards the large opponent. As the winds went to cover him, he let out a squeak of pain, the ice already forming across his legs as he became frozen solid.

"That'll do you," Paige laughed, punching the air. "You've been..."

Completely interrupting her, the ice shattered to reveal Luark stood there, completely unharmed by the ordeal.

"Worse," he snickered, finishing her sentence for her. Mainly by striking out with the staff again...

* * *

Coming together as one, the six Genesis Rangers crashed into the Cobra Rangers, not hesitating to attack. Fighting back to back, Katie and Duo went for Cobras Red and Black, the power forced from their morphing base giving them the chance to match them more evenly in combat. Blocking Cobra Red's punch, Katie grabbed his arm and hurled him back. Behind her, Duo kicked Cobra Black in the stomach, the evil ranger falling to the ground under the fearsome blow. Across from them, Luke struck out with a punch, his blow hurling Cobra Purple up into the air, while Nahir hit out with a fan kick that staggered Cobra Yellow into the base of a tree. Finally, Xavier and Ryan were engaged with their evil counterparts, Xavier bouncing up off Ryan's shoulders to perform a wall jump kick that floored Cobra Blue, while the green ranger then hurled himself at Cobra Green and forced him back with a flying kick.

"What's happening to us?" Cobra Red demanded, picking himself up, despite the pain coursing through his body. "You are... We are..."  
"I don't know what to think," Cobra Blue moaned. "Are they getting stronger, or are we getting weaker."  
"Bit of both, I think," Nahir laughed. "You guy's are history."

"And it's time for you to end up as history," Ryan said, as the six of them began to run towards their grounded enemies, their ranger suits glowing at their apex, the fire burning bright within their souls.

"Power Of Fire! Flareon!"

"Power Of Dark! Umbreon!"  
"Power Of Water! Vaporeon!"

"Power Of Grass! Leafeon!"

"Power Of Electric! Jolteon!"  
"Power Of Psychic! Espeon!"

The six shouts erupted from the rangers as they reached their enemies, the power from the artefacts at the absolute max. Not hesitating, they threw out powerful glowing fists, the attacks landing on the Cobra Rangers to send the positive power of ranger's away through their systems.

And, just as quickly as they had appeared from out of nowhere, born in a Coppinger lab, the Cobra's began to die in front of them. The six individual blows each hurling the respective Cobra up into the air, the power began to overwrite the negativity within their systems, destroying them from within.

And, as they hit the ground, only shattered fragments of their armour remained, whatever had inhabited them completely wiped out from existence.

"Guys..." Katie said, dropping back into a crouch, the exertion from the manoeuvre having completely taken everything out of them. "I think we did it."

"Man, I'm exhausted," Duo groaned, taking a deep breath to try and recover from the fight. "But still... Good plan. Using the positive energy given off by our powers against them."

"Yeah, I can't believe you came up with that on the spot," Nahir said, looking over at Katie. "Want to enlighten us?"

"Guess it's not like I saw it in a hallucination," she replied, sarcastically. "You believe me now?"

"Anyone could have come up with that," Luke said, rolling his eyes under his helmet. "You could have just gone through the act of winging it and hope for the best."

Before Katie could let out an angry response, the six morphers all beeped, Paige's frantic voice coming out through it.

"You guys done yet?" she demanded, anger mixed in with her panic. "I need your help. A lot of it, this thing's taking me on and doing some damage. Need the Overload Megazord on the scene right now."

"Man, there's no rest for the wicked, huh?" Xavier asked, letting his head drop. "Guess we better get going."

"Let's do this!" Katie shouted, punching the air. "Time to transform!"

Nothing happened.

"What the...?" Nahir howled, slapping her palm against her helmet. "What just happened?"

"I don't know," Katie replied, looking back down to where the morpher was on her wrist. "Let's try again! Time to transform!"

Again, nothing happened, the efforts all in vain.

"This isn't good," Ryan commented, looking like he was on the verge of panic. "We can't transform into our Zords. This..."

"Paige!" Xavier said, speaking into his communicator. "Just hang on a second. Don't panic, but we can't transform into our Zords."

"Oh, you have got to be shi...!" she started to shout, before an explosion rang out in the background. "Come on! You can do better than that! Try a little harder!"

"Is she talking to us, or taunting the thing she's fighting?" Luke wondered, leaning over to look at the communicator. "So, where do we go from here?"

"We can help!"

Six gasps of surprise erupting out from the rangers at the surprise interruption, they turned to see six multicoloured spirits rising up out of the shattered armour left by the Cobra Rangers.

"What the bloody hell are those things?" Duo asked, taking a step back as the spirits moved towards them. "Aw, man, not again."

"Using the power of your stones to destroy those things was an act of genius," the blue spirit commented, floating over towards a slightly freaked Xavier.

"But, it appears that the power used has temporarily rendered you unable to summon your Megazord," the green spirit continued, starting to curl around Ryan's shoulders.

"What about it?" Katie demanded, looking over to the red spirit that was coming towards her. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"Trust us!" the red spirit insisted, moving closer to her. "Trust us and we can help you defeat this foe."

"What are you?" Duo demanded, looking at the black spirit in front of him. "Just..."

"We need to bond with you," the green spirit called out. "We are the spirits of the Silent Strike Megazord."

"Since you destroyed the Cobra Rangers," the purple spirit said, moving closer to Luke. "That power is now yours to command."

"That would help," Nahir remarked. "If it's true."

"You think that we can trust them?" Ryan wondered, looking at the green spirit with suspicion. "Because, what if they're the Cobra's trying to trick us?"

"That's a chance we have to take," Katie said, looking at the red spirit. "Okay, we accept."

No sooner had she closed her mouth did the six spirits charge, racing towards the appropriate ranger before smashing into them in a shower of light in the same colour as the uniform worn by the figure they had gone to join with.

As her uniform still shone with the ruby red light given off by the spirit, Katie stepped up and gave the command.

"Silent Strike Megazord!"

* * *

Physically, the transformation hadn't hurt. On the other hand, it was nothing like transforming into the Overload Megazord, the act completely different. At the command, they transformed into six balls of coloured energy, energy that quickly raced up to form into the shape of a giant figure. The black and blue balls of energy created by Duo and Xavier moved to form the legs, the red energy formed by Katie was the chest, the green coloured energy that Ryan had become formed the head, while Luke and Nahir's purple and yellow energy became the arms. Solidifying out, the legs became coiled Arboks, the chest became a bright red Arbok's face, the arms became like the upper body of an Arbok, the open jaws becoming hands, while the green energy became a green generic head, with a band covered in six colours across it. Unlike the previous incarnation, it no longer resembled a Cobra Ranger helmet.

Appearing in the cockpit, the six Genesis Rangers instantly found themselves marvelling at it, the place more homely than they had imagined for a machine that until recently had been used by something evil.

"Neat," Duo commented. "Like to see the look on Paige's face when we show up in this."

* * *

Roaring angrily, Luark swept out his staff and struck the North Wind Megazord, unleashing a barrage of black energy into the dents left by it.

"You cannot defeat the might of Luark," he said, swinging to unleash another blow. "I am eternal! Nothing you do can harm me!"

"What about us!" the shout coming out from Katie. "Acid!"

Leaping down onto the scene, the Silent Strike Megazord brought both arms up to fire a wave of purple toxic sludge across Luark's body, the mutant instantly rounding on them in frenzied anger. But not before letting out a howl of pain.

"Guess it's not part steel type," Xavier commented. "Otherwise..."

Surging forward in anger, Luark brought his staff up to strike at the Silent Strike Megazord. Only for Katie to react faster, moving the controls of the Megazord to bring it into a defensive position. Dodging the attack, she quickly made to give it another command.

"Tail Strikes!"

Upon her order, the arms began to sweep out like whips, their rake crashing away across Luark's body, each whipping strike bringing out a whimper of pain from the mutant.

"Think he doesn't like that," Luke remarked. "You want to keep that up, or shall we put him out of his misery?"

"I think the latter," Nahir said. "Go for it! We know you want to."

"Serpent Sabre!" Katie shouted, the weapon in question appearing within the robotic hands of the Silent Strike Megazord. Not hesitating, it came up to slash twice against Luark who brought his staff up to try and parry the attacks. An act that didn't work as a third strike came in and shattered it into two pieces.

"How do you like that?" Duo laughed, reaching over to high five Ryan. "Guess it's time to give him a less than peaceful destruction."  
"It's Toxic Slash, right?" the green ranger asked. "Because..."  
"Yeah, that's about right," Katie replied, before inputting the command. "Toxic Slash!"

Responding to her order, the Megazord brought the sword up, the blade starting to glow with a bright purple energy. Sweeping it out in several wide arcs, the blade easily cut away through Luark's body, the slashes digging in deep. Moments later, he was in several pieces, the remains falling through the air before exploding into several pieces, the fires already starting to burn as they hit the ground.

"Oh yeah!" Ryan shouted, punching the air. "How about that?"

That was when they heard Paige's voice, the North Wind Megazord moving over to join the Silent Strike Megazord where it stood.

"You want to explain?" the white ranger asked, puzzled by the sight. "Because..."

"Long story," Katie laughed. "You like our new toy?"

* * *

"So, what do you want to do with the remains of the armour?" Paige asked, looking down at the six shattered metal husks in front of the group. Still, they could recognise the empty, emotionless faces of their enemies within them, the sights still invoking fear and dread. "Burn them, bury them, hang them on the wall? What?"

"I'm all for the thing that employs as little effort as possible," Luke commented, raising his hand up meekly. "Yeah? Yeah?"

"Which one is that then?" Nahir asked, looking forward. "Hey, you think I can fit Cobra Yellow's helmet over my head?"

"Why would you even want to try and do that?" Xavier demanded, shaking his head. "That would be stupid. I mean... What if you did that and you got possessed by Cobra Yellow's spirit?"

"Seriously, you've got to be a fricking moron to believe that could happen," Nahir said, shaking her head. "Come on, you're watching too much terrible TV to believe that that could happen."

"Either way, it might be a bad idea to do it," Katie remarked. "So... No putting a helmet over your head. And then getting it stuck so that we've got to get it off with a chainsaw."

"That kinda make sense," Duo commented. "I mean... Chainsaw to the head bad. I say that we bury that armour."

"We have a shovel?" Ryan asked. "Or..."

"Rangers!" the voice of Bill exclaimed, his shout coming away through the seven helmets. "Don't do anything with the armour for the moment. Bring it here, I may be able to do something with it. Meanwhile, you've got company."

"Hello there."

Looking around, the rangers saw the six multicoloured spirits floating over, their bodies lightly blowing in the breeze as they did so. As they watched this spectacle appear, the rangers swore they could sense an aura of happiness emerging away from the six shapes.

"Thanks again for freeing us," the red spirit said, almost squealing with delight as it spoke. "We will no longer have to do the bidding of those despicable Cobra Rangers."

"Our power is yours to command," the black spirit continued, moving over to rub against Duo. Something that the black ranger looked uneasy about, as he reached up to pet the spirit.

"Long ago, we were created with Genesis energy," the blue spirit twittered, moving over to Xavier. "It was... intended that we would be used to help those seeking the Genesis Book."

"Unfortunately," the green spirit offered, resting down on Ryan's head. "We were commandeered by those Cobra Rangers. Doomed to serve them."

"Yet, now that power is yours to command," the yellow spirit said, moving over to Nahir to nestle against her face. "We are the Silent Strike Megazord. In addition, the six of you all now know Double Team in the instance that you need both Megazords."

"And, as a bonus," the purple spirit commented, coming over to Luke, not caring about how self conscious the ranger was by its presence. "We have something else to offer to you."

"Something else?" Xavier asked, intrigued almost instantly. "What is this?"  
"The location of an artefact," the red spirit replied, coming up to allow Katie to take it in her arms. "We have that for you."

"Really?" the red ranger asked, looking down at the spectral being in her arms. "What... What do you have for us? Because we're pretty stumped for leads."  
"High in the mountains of this region," the black spirit called, its voice more musical than the rest of them as it spoke. "There exists an item. An item known as..."

"The Glace Crystal," the green spirit finished. "Something that you may have prior experience with. Some of you anyway..."

"Wait, what?" Paige asked, looking over to the spirit. "What did you just say?"

"The Glace Crystal," the yellow spirit offered, moving her gaze over to Paige. "You've heard of it. Haven't you?"

"I have too," Duo piped up, before letting out a groan. "But, I don't know where it ended up. It appeared when we were in G-Force, but the one who knew it's location..."

Letting out another groan, he almost slumped back against the tree, a pained look on his face at the memory.

"What, what is it?" Ryan asked. "I don't get it? Why... Who was it who found it?"

Surprisingly, it was Paige who spoke up to answer the question. An answer that upon being revealed, everyone let out sounds of acknowledgment.

"Danni," the white ranger replied. "It was Danni."

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**What is this? Another slight cliff hanger? Anyway, it's a documented fact that Danni would reappear in the next chapter, I revealed it on the Poké Rangers wiki months ago. Here's hoping people had forgotten, haha.**

**So, yeah.. Cobra's are gone and rangers have a new Megazord.**

**Always the plan. But, what does Bill intend to do with the armour that remains?**

**Thanks for the reviews. They are all appreciated, glad you liked the last chapter.**

**Next one... It's entitled Let It Snow. Which is apt because it's freezing where I am. Preview below. No idea when.**

**Actually, Danni isn't the only character coming back in the next few chapters... Bwahaha.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Please! Cobra Red is replying today.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Thirty Six, Let It Snow, preview.**

**Bill: I've managed to build something here.**

**Xavier: Cool.**

**Paige: Long time no see.**

**Danni: Holy crap, you're alive!**

**?: Two Pidgey with one rock.**

**Danni: And I thought my experiences with this thing were over...**

**Paige: Toxic Armour!**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	36. Let It Snow

Chapter Thirty Six. Let It Snow.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers G-Force and Genesis Overload..._

_While researching, Danielle Tanner came across information about a stone named the Glace Crystal in Verger which could cover the region in ice. Desperate for information, Regli and co sent Glaidevass to try and get the stone for their own purposes. In battling the mutant, Danni gained full access to her morphing powers and managed to shatter the stone. In a later time, the Cobra Ranger's reached their full power and came to destroy the Genesis Rangers. While Paige took on Harley's Luark monster, the other six rangers were beaten down by their evil counterparts. Until Katie remembered the piece of information that she had been told in the future, then the six of them brought out the full force of the positive energy within their artefacts to destroy the Cobra Rangers. To make things even better, the spirits left behind gave them the Silent Strike Megazord which they then used to defeat Luark. In the aftermath, the spirits of the Silent Strike Megazord revealed another artefact, the Glace Crystal. Only for Paige to make the connection with Danni..._

_

* * *

_

"Wait, what?" Xavier asked, surprised by the comment. "As in our old friend and team mate, Danni?"

"Yeah," Paige said. "As in that... How many Danni's do you know?"

"Is that a question that you really want me to answer?" the blue ranger asked, raising an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"If you've got nothing better to do then have at it," the white ranger retorted. "Come on then. How many Danni's do you know?"

"Well, one female Danni," he replied. "There's Danny Dragonfly, there was that guy who worked at SDI named Danny... There was Danny Clarke who was one of my rivals when I was travelling around Hoenn on my first journey... There was that guy, Danny, who sings in that club in Waterfall Shores..."

"Okay, forget I asked," Paige groaned. "That's... What the hell is wrong with you? Everyone's supposed to have a friend named Dave, not one named Danny. Or Danni, whatever version of it you want."

"How many friends named Dave do you have, Paige?" Duo wondered. "Because now you've got me wondering."  
"Stop asking me questions about people named David, or you'll feel my fury," she replied, rolling her eyes at him. "So not in the mood right now."

"So..." Luke remarked, looking over at the white ranger. "She know that you're alive? Again?"

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord and North Wind Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

"That's the most freaked out I think I've ever seen you."

Glancing around as he walked out onto the bridge of the Silver Gyarados, Duo shrugged away at the smiling Katie, determined not to let her get to him.

"Really, why would I be freaked out?" he asked, dropping a piece of Cobra armour down onto the desk in front of him. "So, I had a relationship with Danni, and so it ended badly. Doesn't mean that..."  
"Last time she was on this boat, she tried throwing heavy objects at you," Ryan pointed out. "Doesn't that tell you exactly what she feels about the way you handled that particular event?"

"Okay, so I screwed things up," the black ranger replied. "Shoot me."

"Nah, I think we'll let Danni do that," Nahir quipped, holding her hand up for a high five. "Someone show me some skin."

"You're a barrel of laughs," Duo commented. "Think I'm going to hide in my cabin for the next several days, just in case."

"So, we should probably get in touch with her," Xavier said, looking around at the rest of the group. "She and Andrew went home to Sinnoh right? Well, to her home, anyway."

"Based on our current position," Lance remarked, glancing down at the screen in front of him to gain a judgement on where the Silver Gyarados was. "I estimate that we are six hours from docking in Canalave City. It could easily be less than a third of that time if some of you go on the Hover Chasers right now and meet up with us there."

"But what if we leave Verger's waters and the Coppingers attack?" Ryan asked. "That could be bad. The Cobra's are gone, but there's still the Dark Spectre's to worry about."

"Three way split," Katie said, folding her arms. "Nahir, you and Paige head to Sinnoh to hook up with Danni..."

"Nice," Ryan muttered, a grin on his face as he visualised the literal sense of the comment. "Very nice indeed."

Ignoring him, Katie continued to speak away, giving out the orders to the rest of the team.

"Xavier, you and Duo stay here on the Silver Gyarados, which will head over to Sinnoh to pick her up. Myself, Luke and Ryan will head off to mainland Verger just in case of an attack."

"That sounds fair," Lance commented, as Katie walked over to pick up the Cress Crystal and pocket it. "Then what are we all waiting for?"  
"Let's do this!" Luke exclaimed, dropping a piece of armour that Cobra Black had worn on his leg to the table, before turning to walk out. "Away with the..."

"You're not leaving that here, are you?" the Dragon Master asked, slightly sarcastically. "I'm sure Bill would love it down in his workshop."

"Well, he best come up and get it then," the purple ranger retorted, not coming back into the room to take care of the junk that he had dumped there.

"Is it just me..." Lance started to say, before smiling at the comment he was about to make. "Or does anyone else sometimes get the urge to throw something at him?"

"I had that feeling several times with him when we were in SDI," Nahir remarked. "Still do from time to time."  
"Except now you're the best of friends," Duo commented, sarcastically. "So much that you're now dating. Good for you, that's really the definition of finding someone annoying."

"You know who else I find annoying?" she replied, giving him a dark look. "Black rangers who make irritating observations."

"Well, you're going to get that with Danni," he said, slightly sarcastically. "So..."

"Seriously, you want to continue down that line of thought?" Katie wondered, rolling her eyes. "You think she still hates you?"

"Probably," Duo answered. "Although, I can't imagine why. Any sane person would probably have gotten over it by now."

"Duo," Paige groaned. "Listen, if you feel the need to say that, do it when she's here. I think we'd all cherish the sight of her sticking one on you."

"Well, I wouldn't," Katie said, glaring at the white ranger. "Nobody hits my rangers except the bad guys, and let's be honest, they don't get away with it that often."

* * *

"Houndoom, Magnezone! Use Dark Pulse and Thunderbolt on Electivire and Raichu. Raichu, counter out the Thunderbolt with one of your own, Electivire, use Protect to defend against the Dark Pulse!"

Keeping her focus on the four Pokémon in front of her, the red haired teenage girl didn't react to the sound of the phone ringing in the house behind her, instead remaining locked on the way that her Pokémon were reacting to the training regime that she was putting them through. Ever since returning to Sinnoh following her retirement as a ranger, she had made the decision to challenge the gyms of the region again, along with her boyfriend.

With the sight of her Pokémon countering their friendly counterpart's attacks taking her full attention away from what else was going on, she was barely aware that the ringing of the phone had ceased, the next sound been one of the familiar voice calling her name.

"Danni!"  
Looking around to the direction of the call, she saw her mother stood there, the phone in hand as she watched her daughter from the back door of the house.

"Yeah?"

"Telephone call for you."

* * *

"Thanks, Lance," Paige said, the connection at the other end of her communicator dying even as she finished speaking. "You get that?"

"Just about," Nahir replied, shrugging. "He managed to get in touch with Danni and tell her to meet us. That's about all I need to know."

"It'll be nice to see her again," Paige commented, glancing down to the HUD in her Hover Chaser to check that she was still heading in the right direction. "I mean... I haven't seen her since I died."

"Elsewhere, that would sound really strange," Nahir remarked. "Here... It's an ice breaker. I know what you mean though... Sometimes, I miss the camaraderie that we had in the SDI days. Me, Luke, Danni, Andrew, Katie and Xavier."

"Are you saying that you don't think we're a team in the same way?" Paige asked, mock hurt by the comment. "Come on..."

"It's nothing against you, Duo and Ryan of course," the yellow ranger replied. "More a case of me just being nostalgic. Don't you ever miss the time that you spent with your G-Force team mates?"

"Well, I miss Chip, Mitzi and Scott from time to time," Paige said. "There's Duo there who... Meh, if nothing else, he's a treasured memory. And Crane. I miss Crane a lot."  
"It must be hard," Nahir offered, sympathetically. "You two had something. Now he's in the future and for all we know, still thinks that you're dead. Maybe you should get in touch with Dorlinda and see if you can track him down."

"I'll bring it up next time I see him," Paige replied. "Since he took my G-Force Morpher from me, I don't have a way to get in touch with him."

* * *

"So, what did you want the armour for?" Duo asked, he and Xavier walking into Bill's workshop, before seeing the PokéManiac stood up by one of the work benches hammering away at the armour. "If you don't mind me asking."

"Well, I had an idea," Bill replied, picking up the helmet that had been worn by Cobra Blue. "One that I quickly realised that I could put into practice and as a result, I've managed to build something here."

"Cool," Xavier remarked, following Duo into the room. "Is it nearly ready?"

"I've been working on it for the past few hours," Bill replied, sternly. "With mangled parts, tools that, while advanced, aren't really suitable for this line of work. And also, I'm doing it completely from off the top of my head. That said, despite all that, it will probably be up in possibly half a day if I work non-stop with only two or three bathroom breaks and only taking on necessary liquid."

"Is that really necessary?" Duo wondered. "Because..."

"Actually, it is if there's an attack," Bill said, starting to take a saw to the helmet. "The latest enemies have proven to be more than formidable. You need a new trick in your armoury, a new string to your bow. That's what I'm here for."

"In case you're wondering," Xavier commented, folding his arms. "We're currently on the watery road to Sinnoh to pick Danni up. We need her for something."

"Yes, that's something that I'm aware of," the PokéManiac replied, still sawing away at the helmet, working at the neck hole to enlarge it. "You need her to find an artefact? I've got an open link to the bridge in here, heard it all."

"So, what are you working on then?" Duo wondered, stepping over to try and get a better look at the armour on the bench. "Anything that you can tell us about?"

"Nope," Bill replied, quickly. "It's a surprise. Now, can you please leave me in peace so I get this finished quickly. Very quickly. You never know when it might be needed."

* * *

"So..." Ryan commented, following Luke and Katie into the warehouse, a smile on his face as he saw the familiar three letter logo on the floor ahead of him. "This is an SDI base?"

"Pretty much," Luke said, reaching over to wipe away the dust on another logo on the wall. "When the Aquabase was destroyed, we came here to lick our wounds and..."

"You came here to lick your wounds," Katie commented, sarcastically. "The rest of us came here to try and work out how to beat the demons."  
"How come nobody's here then?" Ryan asked, the three of them walking into the abandoned control room. "Seems like it was just left to ruin when the demon threat was eliminated."

"It was, more or less," Katie replied, dropping her rucksack full of equipment down into the space where a computer console had once stood. "SDI was created to combat the possible demon threat. They watched it for well over forty years until Darkia came along and released them. When we defeated them, there was no need for a full SDI facility. In fact, even before we became the next generation of rangers, I was helping them remove the stuff from the Aquabase."

"Well, if we're waiting here," Ryan said, leaning back against the wall, before taking a can of Sunder-ade out from his pocket. "Might as well get comfortable."

"Part of your birthday present?" Luke asked, looking over at the product that bore part of his name. "Enjoying that?"

"Pretty much."

* * *

"Lance told us that she had agreed to meet us in Amity Square," Paige said, as she and Nahir found themselves standing in line to get into the place. "Take a stroll with your Pokémon and... Actually, let me guess. You probably don't agree with this place."

"Just because I think Pokémon battling is pointless..." the yellow ranger replied, sarcastically. "Why does everyone else think that I regard everything else involving Pokémon as equally pointless?"

"So... You don't?"

"Hey, if places like this exist to enable trainer's to get closer to their Pokémon, then I don't really have a problem with it. I just think having Pokémon beating the stuffing out of each other is a little... Well, as I said, pointless."

"I'll battle," Paige replied, taking a ticket from the counter as she reached the front of the queue. "I don't think that it's pointless, but there can be elements of it that can be borderline sadistic."

Not really agreeing or disagreeing, Nahir also took a ticket before reaching down to let her Glameow out of the Poké Ball. By the time she had looked up, Paige had brought out her Wartortle at the same time, the two Pokémon already walking after their trainers into the main area of Amity Square.

"So, how many Danielle Tanner's can there be in here?" Nahir wondered, already starting to scan the area, looking for any sign of her former teammate. "Hopefully, just one."

* * *

"There she is!" Paige called, gesturing to the familiar sight of the girl with her back to them, a Magnezone hovering high above her to examine the surrounding area with interest. "I'd know that Magnezone anyway."

"You some kind of Magnezone voyeur?" Nahir wondered, dryly, the two of them covering the relatively small distance between them and their friend in no time at all. "Actually, don't answer that question. Please, don't."

Reaching out to place a hand on the redhead's shoulder, Paige saw the reaction almost immediatel, Danni looking up in surprise.

"Hey there," she said, offering the former black ranger a big grin. "How've you been?"

"Holy crap!" Danni exclaimed, throwing her arms around Paige in glee. "You're alive!"

"Suddenly I feel left out," Nahir commented, shooting a mock upset grin at her old friend. "What, no hug for me?"

"Hey, you didn't die," Danni pointed out, breaking away from Paige to offer the same gesture to Nahir. "But, I've missed you all the same."

"We're only a few regions away," Paige commented, watching the two yellow ranger's hug each other. "It's only a moderately expensive phone call. Or you could hover on over on your Magnezone."

"Yeah yeah yeah," Danni replied, shrugging. "That's not the point. So, what's up? What's going on?"

"Can't we just call over and check on an old friend?" Nahir laughed. "Come on, there doesn't have to be a reason for us to..."

"There is though, isn't there?" Danni replied. "What is it?"

"If we gave you a name," Paige answered, keeping a firm expression locked on her old friend. "The name of something that we're trying to find, can you honestly give us your opinion on what you know about it?"

"Depends on what it is," Danni said, leaning back on the bench, one leg crossed over the other. "What's the name?"

"The Glace Crystal," Nahir replied. "Mean anything to you?"

"Hmmm..." the former black ranger mused. "Let me think..."

_Again, Glaidevass turned to try and search out her opponent. But, after another attack, Danni vanished again._

_"Come back here and let me freeze you!" she howled, desolately._

_"Your freezing days are over," the black ranger said, reappearing in front of Glaidevass. And, with those words, she leaped up and planted her boot into the gem around the monsters neck. It instantly shattered under the blow, sending the monster staggering back. "Effective immediately."_

_"But... How did you find my weakness?" Glaidevass complained, clutching at her stomach. The shattered remains of the Glace Crystal tinkled down to the ground._

_"Pretty obvious," Danni quipped. "Keeping it in the middle of your body where it could easily be seen..."_

"Rings a bell," she said. "Just... I wouldn't worry about it."

"Why wouldn't you worry about it?" Paige wondered. "What happened to it?"

"It was at the time of G-Force... So, it's over a year ago, but it seems like longer. A lot longer. Anyway, it was actually more towards the end of that period and I was contemplating what I was about to do after my time as a ranger finished. As I remember, I was reading a book on rare artefacts or something, I don't quite remember and the Glace Crystal popped up. Somehow, Regli got wind of it and sent one of his goons, Glaidevass down to try and grab it, despite not knowing whether it was a myth or not."

"I remember Glaidevass," Paige commented, shivering at the memory. "Brrrrr!"

"Chilling, huh?" Danni asked, smirking slightly at her own comment. "She found the Glace Crystal and used it, the boost in her power being such that she was easily able to overpower the six other G-Force rangers, freezing them solid."

"Don't I recall that with such pleasure," Paige remarked, dryly. "You managed to go at her with your fixed morpher and take her down..."

"And I destroyed it," Danni said. "Or at least I shattered it. I kicked it, I'm not sure what happened to the thing after..."

"You think it could have survived the blow?" Nahir wondered. "Because, if it did..."

"Or, if you remember the Eclipse Stone," Paige said, stroking her chin as she mused on the subject. "That was shattered, but it was something that we could get repaired. Maybe the same could be done with the Glace Crystal."

"Maybe," Danni replied, getting to her feet. "Assuming that you guys can find it."

"Where was it?" Nahir asked, looking at her former team mate. "Can you tell us?"  
"I'll do you one better," Danni answered, smiling at the two of them. "I'll come and lead you to it. It might have been a while, but I'm pretty sure I can still find it if it comes down to it."

"That would be handy," Paige remarked. "We've got our boat coming to Canalave City, so if we hurry on over there, we could be back in Verger in the next... What? Five, six hours. Then, let the hunt begin."

"It's like I've never been away," Danni commented, dryly, before growing more cheerful. "Okay, I'll head home and grab some things and... I'll be ready when you need me."

* * *

"Man, good thing we were here," Ryan remarked, following the other two rangers into the warehouse. "Dogbot attack... Not the nastiest thing out there, but..."

"Hey, put it this way," Luke commented, closing the doors behind him. "They're better off trashed than running around the region attacking people and generally being annoying. The point is that we could have been out of the region, and someone could have been hurt."

"Actually, there's a good chance that someone might have been," Katie said, before letting out a quick laugh. "You feeling okay, Luke? Worried about a few people isn't usually your style."

"If we're stranded here, cleaning up whatever the Coppingers throw out at us, I might as well make the most of it," Luke replied, grinning. "Besides, I don't have a problem with people as a whole."

* * *

"You're going back to Verger?" Andrew asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise. Ever since she had come back to the home, she had immediately called her mother and father, as well as her boyfriend to announce the bare details of what she needed to do. "Really?"

"Need to clear up a loose end," Danni replied, getting up from the table. "Just a certain something that... It's a favour for a friend. An old friend that I really can't get out of helping. I'll be gone a day, two days... Possibly three at the most."

"Which friend?" Andrew wondered, giving her a suspicious look. "Anyone that..."

"One of them's Nahir," she said, winking at him, before mouthing the word emergency at him. Something that her father noticed, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"Something that you want to tell us, Danielle?" he asked, a slight edge in his voice. "Is this related to the business that you engaged in while under employment at SDI?"

"In a really indirect way," she answered, not completely lying about it. "It's... Related."

"Then, I think that you should go and do what you have to do," her father replied, smiling at her. "Do us all proud with whatever you need to do."

"We're all rooting for you," her mother added. "Good luck, dear."

"You need me to come with you?" Andrew asked, almost hopefully. "Because..."

"Shouldn't do," Danni replied, shooting an apologetic look at him. "But, thanks for the offer."

* * *

"You want to try this then?" Bill asked, stepping back away from the suit of makeshift armour that he had built up from the shattered pieces of the Cobra Ranger suits. In addition to the wire skeleton that it was propped upon, the armour consisted of half a helmet, some armour for the arms, complete with bladed gauntlets and spiked knuckle gloves, along with thick metal leg armour and spiked boots. "It's not completely finished, I want to give it a spray, colour it in so it doesn't look random and... Well, like I built it from a bunch of dead monsters."

"Bill, can I ask you something?" Duo asked, running an appraising eye up and down the armour. "Is there any power difference between this and Katie's Battlizer?"

"Actually, there is," the PokéManiac replied. "This isn't as powerful, but it still packs a punch. Whatever power the Cobra's held was in the being rather than in the armour, meaning that this only holds a fraction of the power that they had. Yet, unlike the Battlizer, this can be used by all seven of you."

"That's pretty sweet," Xavier remarked, reaching over to check how sharp the blades on the gauntlets were, the blue ranger running his thumb across them before wincing. "And sharp."

"So, what are you planning to call it?" Duo asked, curiously.

* * *

"What's new then?" Danni wondered, looking in the rearview mirror of the jeep at Paige in the back. "Since you're alive, you want to provide an explanation as to how?"

"Clarence came up with a plan," Paige replied, smiling. "He was... Well, after these guys got their powers, he kept an artefact back. When I was about to die, he appeared to me and... Well, it's a long story, but the short version is that I ended up becoming the white ranger."

"After a really long drawn out process where she was complaining every day," Nahir said, winking at Paige in jest. "It really was getting quite irritating after a while."

"Oh ha ha," Paige replied. "So... How are you and Andrew?"

"Good," Danni said, smiling at the mention of his name. "He's really continued to adapt to a normal life, especially after what he went through for ten years. Now, he can practically pass for a regular human being most of the time."

"Good for him," Nahir remarked. "We couldn't have defeated the demons without him... Well, you know we couldn't have."

"I remember," Danni said, turning a corner, the jeep passing a sign directing them to Canalave City. "The whole thing with the Legendary Sabre..."

Pausing for a moment, the former ranger glanced up to see the outline of the city ahead of them, before going back to her two friends.

"So, what's new with you guys? Anything drastically different?"

"Well, there is that one thing with Nahir," Paige commented, winking at the current yellow ranger. "Right?"

"What's that?" Danni asked, her interest immediately up at the implications. "Anything that..."

"I started to date Luke," Nahir replied, rolling her eyes at Paige in retaliation for the wink. "Which is great. Really great. Greater than I thought."

"Heh," Danni smiled, looking over at the two former pink rangers. "I have to say that I always thought that you two would be cute together. Very cute."

"It is kinda sweet," Paige remarked. "None of us ever saw that side of Luke before."

"Yeah..." Nahir replied, a little uncomfortable by the discussion. "Anyone else you want to ask about on the Silver Gyarados? Anyone at all?"

"How's Xavier?"

"Brilliant," Paige said, shuffling about in her seat. "He's good."

"Lance?"

"Great," Nahir replied, nodding her head a few times to try and emphasise her point about the Dragon Master. "He's fitting in well. Very well."

"Ryan?"

"Awesome," Paige said. "He's really stepped up to the role of being a ranger. And... Well, we all have to start somewhere. There were a few nervous moments at the start, but he's matured well."

"Bill?"

"Looks like he's enjoying every single moment of it," Nahir remarked, grinning. "It's like a dream come true for him, I think. You remember when he showed up at the Aquabase while we were in SDI? He's having an absolute Wailord of a time."

"How's Katie?" Danni asked, with interest. "She coping with being the leader of the team?"

"Why, are you expecting her to crash and burn?" Paige wondered. "Because..."

"No, not at all," the former yellow ranger quickly replied, backtracking. "I was just wondering."

* * *

"I see it still looks exactly the same as before," Danni remarked, looking around the deck of the Silver Gyarados as the three of them walked onto it, having moved up the ramp connecting the dock and the ship. "That whole trashed up looking hides what it's really like."

"I think that was intentional," Nahir commented, looking up to the bridge. "So, I guess we must just be about ready to go now. Best get up to the bridge and check that out."  
"I have to confess that I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again," Danni commented. "Hey, is Crane still here, or...?"

* * *

"Good to have you back on the team," Katie said, her remark directed across at Danni, as she, Luke and Ryan made their way onto the bridge, having met back up with the Silver Gyarados. "However temporarily?"

"Nice to see you again, Katie," Danni said, walking over to her former teammate to give the red ranger a hug. "How've you been?"

"Pretty good," she replied, returning the gesture. "What about you?"

"Just fantastic," Danni answered. "Okay, if everyone's here then we can get back down to business. That Glace Crystal, or what's left of it, isn't going to find itself."

"Hmmm..." Duo remarked. "It might do. If it is, as you claim, destroyed, someone could easily have found the fragments."  
"Yes, but I'm preferring to be optimistic," Danni retorted, giving him a dirty look. "So, unless anyone else has any pointless comments to make..."

"I might have one depending on what you have to say," Luke offered, raising a hand in jest. "So..."

"That's something I've missed," the former yellow ranger commented, grinning at him. "Although, not that much."

"Feel the same way," he shot back, a touch of sarcasm in his tone. "I've not missed you that much. We got on just fine without you."

"And now, you're needing my help again," Danni said. "And you've got me back. Lucky you. Anyway, when I encountered it before, it was on the highest peaks of the Merlin Plateau..."

"Well, that's strange," Xavier remarked. "We gained another artefact from the Merlin Plateau not so long ago. That's really strange."

"Seems more lazy if you ask me," Nahir commented. "Why would you hide two artefacts in virtually the same place?"

"It is a big mountain though," Ryan offered. "And the Liquid Platinum was closer to the middle, rather than the peak. Or maybe one of them was moved there at some point, which would mean that..."

"Yeah, let's not question the logic of why there are two of them in close proximity to each other," Katie said, interrupting the debate. "It isn't the issue right now."

"The Merlin Plateau, as a mountain, stands at over forty thousand feet tall," Bill remarked, throwing his own information into the ring. "If you take that into account, you could hide an array of items in there and they might never be discovered. So, if you're heading to the peak, it could very well take you a while to get up and down there."

"What's your point, Bill?" Lance asked, running his appraising eye across the PokéManiac. "What are you trying to get at with your implications?"

"That if more trouble emerges down here," Bill answered, folding his arms with distaste at the sudden questioning of his methods. "It might be difficult and disorientating for you to race back down and get back to your previous point."

"Paige," Katie said, looking over to the white ranger. "You and Danni go to the peak to try and find the Glace Crystal. You both have experience with it and are hence the most qualified. The rest of us will stay here just in case."

"Sounds like a plan," Danni replied, rubbing her hands together. "But, is there an easier way of getting their than walking? Can't we take one of these 'Hover Chasers'?"

"They're one man only," Bill answered, quickly. "Or one woman, whatever you want to... It doesn't matter. However, if you want to do that..."

Ducking down under his desk, the PokéManiac quickly brought up what looked like a glorified gas mask and air tank, placing them on the table in front of them all.

"You can use that."

"Sweet," Danni remarked, picking it up before almost wincing at how heavy it was. "Anyone want to lend me a Hover Chaser, or...?"

"You can borrow mine if you want," Nahir offered, smiling at her. "Since it's in your colours."

"Yellow all the way," Danni laughed, getting up from where she was leaning against the table to follow Paige out of the room. "Later, guys. We'll see you all later."

"Not if we see you first," Luke muttered, shaking his head in slight derision. "Well, wasn't that enlightening. If we knew that, we could have found it regardless."

"Ah, let her have her moment," Nahir said, moving to the defense of the departed former ranger. "How great has it been to see her again, huh?"

* * *

"That was brisk," Danni remarked, landing on the snow covered ground which covered the peaks of the mountain. "Really brisk. Good thing that they work at this height."

Dropping down next to her, Paige began to shiver almost immediately before craning her head back to look at the darkening sky.

"This might be worrying," she said, zipping up her jacket. "It looks like there's about to be a storm. A really bad storm."

"That's an incentive," Danni laughed, glancing around the surrounding area, trying to get her bearings as to where they had ended up. "Now, let me see..."

Musing on the subject, her eyes lit up at the sight of a large wooden shack across from the two of them, almost an oasis in the snow.

"We should see if we can get a map there. When I know exactly where we are, I can more or less take it from there."

"Are you sure you know where it is that you're going?" Paige asked, suddenly sounding a little worried by the remarks. "Because... You seem a little unsure."

"I'm just a little turned around after the landing!" Danni insisted. "I'll be fine, once I get sorted on where we are. Then again, a trip to the ranger station probably wouldn't be a bad idea."

* * *

"Well, I personally think that you two are crazy for going out exploring in the midst of what's about to become a snow storm," the park ranger remarked, folding her arms. "At least..."

"Hey, I'm an experienced explorer," Danni replied. "I've climbed this mountain before. Well, not this high, but there has to be a first time for everything."

"I can't tell you what to do," the park ranger commented, unfolding her arms and giving the two of them a surly expression. "But, if you get lost on the peaks, you're going to die of hypothermia. It's an almost certain fact of life."

"I doubt it," Paige replied, quickly. "Otherwise, nobody would do it."

"Exactly the point I'm trying to make."

"Anyway, you've been great," Danni interrupted, folding the map up in front of her. "Now I know where it is that we need to go. Thanks for this. We'll be on our way in no time, the sooner that we can find what we're looking for, the sooner that we can make our way home."

"You seem excited by the prospect of almost certain death," the park ranger remarked, dryly. "If you wind up dead, where do you want us to send your remains?"

"Stop being so melodramatic," Danni retorted, already moving towards the exit of the ranger station. "We'll be fine."

"Yeah, we know what we're doing," Paige remarked, following the former yellow ranger out of the door. "Ciao."

Hearing it slam shut behind them, the park ranger began to laugh dramatically.

"Oh, you do, do you?" she asked, before lurching forward in a spear-like motion, a black shadow erupting from her mouth as she did so, the Dark Spectre vanishing away up the chimney, just leaving a confused park ranger alone in the cabin.

"What just happened?"

* * *

"Here it is," Danni remarked, jumping up to climb atop the rock and pull herself up closer to the entrance of the cave. "It's here. We've got it."

"Brilliant," Paige muttered, grumbling slightly through chattering teeth. "Thought that we'd never find it."

Following her up the ledge, the white ranger saw Danni run towards the cavern, the former yellow ranger punching the air in glee as she made her way towards the darkened entrance.

"I knew that I could find it," she crowed triumphantly. "Now, if it's here, then..."

"Look, a Jynx," Paige said, spotting the ice and psychic type Pokémon across from the two of them. "Check that out, all here on her own. Almost like she's guarding the Glace Crystal."

"That's a novel idea," Danni laughed, rubbing her hands together to keep them warm in the cold. Already, snowflakes were starting to fall from the sky, the storm starting prematurely. "Let's just hurry up already."

As the two of them made their way into the cave, the Jynx stood at the entrance continued to ignore them, before looking up to the sky in bemusement, something having caught her attention...

... Only for the Dark Spectre to swoop down and merge with the Pokémon, the Jynx already starting to metamorphosis under its influence...

* * *

"Okay, where is it?" Paige asked, relieved to be out of the blistering cold hail that had been falling from the sky. "Can you find it?"

"Find it?" Danni laughed, glancing down at the frozen ground. "Put it this way, nobody has been here since. At least, not on foot. There are two sets of footprints on the ground, mine and Glaidevass'. Nothing else. So, unless there were wings involved..."

"You just know how to keep the mood ugly, huh?" Paige muttered, glancing at the ground. "So, what does it look like?"

"From what I remember, it was... Okay, I can't remember. It's a stone... I think it was blue. Maybe a sapphire. And actually, now I mention it, the thing was..."

"Got it!" Paige exclaimed, swooping down to pluck it up, holding the blue stone in her hand. "Not a problem. And it's not in a necklace."

Looking over to it, a surprised expression passed across Danni's face, the confused expression growing by the second as she came over to see the item.

"Well, the necklace part... When I smashed it off Glaidevass, the chain could have remained across her neck. But, this should have smashed. I definitely heard cracking..."

"That's some memory you've got," Paige commented, a little sceptic as she turned the item over in her hand to examine it. "Sure you're not just making it up?"

"I'm both shocked and offended," Danni remarked, before getting a closer look at it. Both of them immediately seeing the crack across the middle of the item, something that both of them had missed the first time around. "Although, that might cause you to avoid questioning my honesty."  
"Only joking," Paige quickly commented, looking at the crack with interest. Her curiosity piqued, she began to pull at the crack...

Revealing a smooth shiny white surface below the blue.

"... Protective covering," the white ranger remarked, already peeling more or the blue rock away from around the white stone. "Real Glace Crystal below."

"Well, look at that," Danni commented, before the two of them heard laughing behind them.

"Very very good," a sarcastic female voice remarked. "Now hand it over and..."

Whirling around, the two of them saw the spectral being that had been stalking them without their knowledge, the creature stood at the entrance of the cave. She was a purple Sceptile, with the hair, eyes, lips and armour of a Jynx, while the tail was covered in thick large spikes.

"... Or what?" Danni demanded, folding her arms. "Crazy purple thing."

"The name is Jyllatile," the Dark Spectre retorted. "You'll do well to remember it."

"You follow us up here?" Paige asked, rolling her eyes in disbelief. "Seriously? Why?"

"Two Pidgey with one rock," Jyllatile laughed, crossing her arms in front of her. "Two rangers, one artefact."

"Actually, I'm the only ranger here," Paige said, taking a step forward. "She's an ex ranger. You might as well let her go. You'd just be wasting your time with her."

"Like hell!" Danni exclaimed, moving to stand shoulder to shoulder with Paige. Reaching down into her pocket, she brought out a Poké Ball shaped morpher. "Come on! Let's see how tough you really are!"  
"I like her," Jyllatile remarked. "She's got spine. Maybe I'll rip it out."

"Not too rusty, are you?" Paige asked, looking over to her friend. "Because..."

"SDI!" Danni yelled, bringing the morpher up. "Time to battle!"

As the Poké Ball opened up under her command, a white energy erupted out of it covering Danni to create her armour. Her costume was yellow, with a white star-like pattern on the chest. Along with the pattern, the boots and gloves were also white and separated from the rest of the uniform with a gold band. The belt was also gold like the bands, the letters SDI on a logo upon the middle of the buckle and the bands. Her uniform had a skirt, and she also had a blaster at the side, while her helmet had a Victreebel-like design with the eyes and teeth of the Pokémon. The visor was black and mainly square shaped with the top side curved into a circle.

Not questioning where she had pulled the morpher from, Paige brought her own morpher up, ready to activate it.

"Genesis Overload!"

Transforming into her white ranger costume, she leaped the short distance between her and the Spectre, throwing a flying kick towards Jyllatile. Grunting in pain, the opponent staggered back before turning to try and hit out with her tail. Dropping to the ground, Paige managed to evade the blow before rolling away to evade another. As she made to get up, she saw Danni charge in with her Lugia Lancer, the blade hacking away through some of Jyllatile's armour, the monster howling in pain after the action. Reacting away, the Spectre struck out with a fist and hurled Danni back, laughing at her action.

"This is actually pretty fun," she remarked. "Should have taken the two of you at the ranger station. But, I needed you to find the Glace Crystal. I've heard that its power is... Spectacular."

"Too bad we need it for something else," Paige shot back, transforming herself into her energy form. "Ice Ball!"

Within moments, she was thrashing across Jyllatile's body, the several landed hits all causing damage. Roaring in pain, Jyllatile tried to bat her away with an arm, only for Paige to rise up and clip her on the head. The next thing that she felt was Danni firing an Aeroblast at her from the Lugia Lancer.

Next, Paige heard a voice in her ear, the communicator activating because of a call.

"Paige!" Bill called, safe in his workshop on the Silver Gyarados. "I've been working on a new weapon, one for you all. It might be time to test it out."

"Yeah?" the white ranger asked, not really surprised by the revelation. She had guessed that he had wanted the spent Cobra armour for some reason.

"It's online and ready to be tested," Bill reported, looking down at his monitor. "Ready for a baptism of fire. You good to go?"

"Guess I've got no other option," Paige commented, picking herself up. "What's the go call?"

"Toxic Armour! Power Up!" Bill replied, tapping away at the keyboard. "You get that?"

"It's not the most complicated thing out there," the white ranger replied, taking up another fighting stance. "Let's do this! Toxic Armour! Power Up!"

* * *

The armour vanishing away from the wire frame in Bill's workshop, it reappeared many moments later across Paige's ranger suit. The silver helmet was combined with the Cobra helmet, giving it a slight Arbok appearance, while the arms became covered in a silver armour, large blades emerging out from the gauntlets while spikes erupted across the knuckles. Finally, more armour appeared upon the legs, while more spikes emerged across the side and tip of the boots.

"Okay," Danni muttered, looking over at Paige in surprise. "That's pretty cool."

"Not impressed," Jyllatile snickered, already racing towards Paige. "I'll destroy you first. And, I look forward to it."

"I'm looking forward to seeing what this can do," Paige retorted, kicking out to force Jyllatile back, the spikes digging away into the purple scaled skin of the Spectre. Already, Jyllatile began to howl in pain at the injuries before hitting out with another tail strike to try and throw Paige to the ground. Grunting with the effort, the white ranger managed to block the blow with her gauntlets, before forcing them back.

"I like these blades," she muttered, extending one out. "Let's see what they can do. Toxic Slash!"

Thrusting both arms out, the blades glowing with a purple aura, she hacked them away into Jyllatile's body repeatedly. With cracks erupting out across her chest, Jyllatile began to fall to her knees, groaning in pain. Not hesitating, Paige spun around and kicked her out of the cave.

* * *

Watching Jyllatile fly through the air, the two rangers were immediately greeted with the sight of the Spectre starting to grow to a giant size in mid-flight, the heavy snow falling to the ground all around her.

"So, they still grow," Danni commented, sagely nodding her head, as the giant form of the Spectre stood up straight on a flat piece of ground. "Seems about right."

Taking a step closer to the roaring Jyllatile, Paige brought both hands up to the air.

"Don't worry, I've got it," she said, craning her head to shoot a wink at the yellow SDI ranger. "Double Team!"  
Giving her battle cry, the white ranger began to glow with a pure white energy, before splitting away into three different versions of herself, each of them taking up fighting stances.

"North Wind Megazord!"

At the command, the three figures grew, before transforming, the replicants into a Froslass and a Dewgong, while the original white ranger transformed into a Glaceon. Next, the three giant Pokémon shifted into robot forms and began to move into formation. The Froslass rotating upside down, its head shifting up to form feet, before it split in half. The bottom part of the Zord rising up to connect to the bottom of the Glaceon whose front limbs rose out in front of it to form some chest armour. The rear legs joining with the tip of the split Froslass. The Glaceon's head rose up to form the head of the Megazord, while the Dewgong split in half down the middle. The upper body and head going to form the left arm, while the bottom half of the body and the tail moved to the right arm.

Not hesitating, Paige drove the North Wind Megazord out towards the giant frame of Jyllatile, already planning her attacks.

"Wind Blaster!"

With the Megazord responding to her command, the arm with the tail on it began to spin around at a rapid speed, unleashing a freezing blast of wind towards Jyllatile, the blow throwing the Spectre back against the side of the mountain. As she struggled up, she hurled out her tail and struck the North Wind Megazord in the chest, knocking it back.

"Ice Breaker!" Paige ordered, hitting the button in front of her to give the order. Already reacting to the command, the Dewgong head shot out and crashed into Jyllatile, the blow leaving dents within her armour, much to the displeasure of the Spectre who struck back with a pair of punches.

* * *

All while watching this, Danni suddenly became very aware of the fact that she was teleporting away, another sensation that she had been missing ever since her retirement as a ranger several months earlier.

* * *

When she reappeared, she found herself in a place that she had thought herself never to be again. The presence of Dorlinda across from her almost confirming it.  
"And I thought my experiences with this thing were over..." Danni remarked, moving to settle into her seat in the Houndoom Zord. "I've... sorta missed it, actually."

For a moment, she ran her hand absentmindedly across one of the dashboards, before reacting with a start.

"Hold on," she said, shooting an accusing look at Dorlinda. "I thought this thing was dead, after my powers were destroyed."

"Actually, I believe you'll find the term used by my brother was 'nearly dead'," the Lord of Tme replied, leaning back against the side of the cockpit. "Anyway, I think that Paige could probably use some help. There's just enough stored power in here for one last battle. Possibly."

"How am I going to control it without my morpher?" the yellow SDI ranger asked, looking at the console. "Even if that thing still works, no way I'm going to put it back on. Not after last time..."

"Yeah, I heard," Dorlinda replied, sympathetically. "Sorry about that. It was... An oversight on my part."

"That's an understatement," Danni commented, rolling her eyes under her helmet. "But, I've long since forgiven you. Come to think of it, where is Errol? How is he?"

"Hibernating," Dorlinda replied, grinning at her. "That's why he hasn't been around. Anyway, on the controlling of the Houndoom Zord, I've integrated the control axis of your shattered morpher into the console."

"So, there's no danger of it overcoming me again?"

"Well, few things are certain in life, but... I don't think so. I'm virtually completely certain as to that."

Comfortable with that, Danni reached over to the starter button and hit it.

"Let's get this show on the road then."

* * *

Staggering back from the blow thrown by the fists of Jyllatile, the North Wind Megazord retaliated by striking out with a kick, the blow barely being blocked by the Dark Spectre.

"You'll have to do better than that, if you want to defeat me," she laughed, the giant Sceptile face barely inches away from the window in the cockpit. "A lot better."

That was when the two of them heard barking in the background, Paige almost immediately wondering if it could possibly be what she thought it was. Glancing around, she saw the Houndoom Zord racing towards the two combatants.

"You miss me?" Danni shouted, her voice loud and clear. "Houndoom Zord! Battle Mode!"

The rear legs of the Houndoom Zord began to shift and turn, the machine jumping up into the air to roll over. The back now became the front as both the fore and rear legs reversed to aim that way. In addition to this the head slid backwards, the horns linking up under the arms of the zord for extra security. The nozzle of a cannon pointed out of the jaws on the chest, while a humanoid head could be seen where the beast-like head had been earlier. A black coloured head with yellow eyes. Standing up on two legs, the Houndoom Zord let out a roar as it faced Jyllatile, the creature slightly surprised by the appearance of the Zord.

"What the...?" she started to say, before Danni gave the command, ignoring the heavy snow billowing down around the two of them.

"Overheat Cannon!"

At the orders of the yellow SDI ranger, a white hot flurry of fire erupted from the chest of the robot, striking Jyllatile heavily in the stomach, as evidenced by her screams of agony as she staggered back.

"Dark Bomb!" Danni bellowed, hitting more buttons in front of her. "Oh yeah!"

Responding to her commands, the Houndoom Zord began to unleash several small black orbs through the air, orbs that exploded on contact with Jyllatile, who found herself severely weakened by the extremely effective assaults upon her.

At least, until a thought occurred to her, that single thought enough to bring a smile across her face.

"You're trying to defeat me," she said, softly. "In a snow storm. That is most foolish, and I will have to punish you for it."

"Who even talks like that any more?" Danni demanded, already moving the Houndoom Zord into another attacking position. "It's really clichéd."

Instead of responding to her, Jyllatile opened up her mouth to fire out a howling gale of icy wind towards the Houndoom Zord, the Blizzard attack instantly finding its mark and freezing the black robot solid.

"And, you're frozen," she said, coldly looking at the giant ice cube in front of her, before moving her attention back to the North Wind Megazord. "You, on the other hand, are alone. Again."

* * *

She hadn't been affected in the cockpit of the robot. But, as she tapped away at the consoles, trying to work out a way to get the Megazord back online, Danni quickly realised that it was looking increasingly bleak. It just simply didn't have enough power to break out of the ice and then go toe to toe with Jyllatile for much longer.

Unless...

Looking down at the big red button to the far right of the console, in a place where she wouldn't accidentally hit it, the thought was already starting to appeal to her,

"Forgive me, Dorlinda," she said, moving her hand across towards it with a heavy heart. "This is the best way to do it."

Even as she punched it down, she could feel the temperature rise, the Houndoom Zord letting out another powerful roar as the metallic body became awash with flames. It didn't take long for the ice around it to start to melt, the intensity of the heat rising up to almost unbearable levels.

"Starting the final countdown," she said, keying in the combination to activate what she had planned. "Getting into position."

As its legs became unfrozen, the Houndoom Zord sprang forward from a standing position and grabbed Jyllatile from behind, securing her in place. Screeching in fury, the Dark Spectre began to struggle in attempt to break free of the Megazord, the robot groaning and creaking in pain from the repeated stress of the attacks on its already worn body. And, even as the voice began to ring out in the cockpit, Danni knew that it was dying. She was just helping it along.

_"Self Destruct sequence has been activated. You have ten seconds to vacate the Houndoom Zord!"_

Leaping out of her seat, she was already racing for the emergency exit.

_"Nine!"_

Kicking the door open, she found herself taking the steps, two at a time.

_"Eight!"_

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, the yellow SDI ranger took a quick left, estimating that she was currently in the area where the lower back would be in a real Houndoom.

_"Seven!"_

Shoulder barging her way through another door, she found herself cutting through an array of engineering marvels that kept the machine going, all of which were currently in the process of failing.

_"Six!"_

She saw the emergency exit sign ahead of her, sprinting for it as fast as she could move, the fear taking over her, almost granting her extra vigour.

_"Five!"_

Outside, Jyllatile struggled with the grip of the Houndoom Zord, worriedly aware at the rising temperature of the heat that was coming up off the black robot, the Dark Spectre desperate to get out.

_"Four!"  
_Without being aware of it, Danni was outside, having dived through a large exhaust port to her left. Upon hitting the ground, she quickly realised that the snow had cushioned her fall, leaving her relatively unharmed.

Barely three seconds later, the Houndoom Zord exploded, taking Jyllatile with it, the smoke quickly clearing in the snow to reveal that neither of them were there any longer.

* * *

"So, those are what you fight now?" Danni commented, picking herself up off the ground. "Interesting. Most interesting."

"In between Coppingers," Paige replied. "Dark Spectres. Ghost-like wraiths from the future, they escaped."

"But, we destroyed it, right?" Danni asked. "Because..."

"Last time we faced one in this style..." the white ranger began to say, only for the Dark Spectre that Danni had thought they had destroyed to rise up from behind a chunk of ice, making a break towards the yellow SDI ranger with a ferocious intensity...

... Yet, before it could get there, a streak of gold light rushed out from the entrance of the cave, hitting the Spectre in the chest and disintegrating it. With neither of them able to react in time to shield their eyes from the blast, both Paige and Danni were blinded by the golden energy, despite their attempts to look over to the source and see where it had come from.

"Whose there?" Paige asked, desperately trying to clear her vision. "Is that... Hello."

Her vision clearing, she finally managed to get a glimpse of the being that had saved them. After a fashion, the glimpse being the long black coat he wore, in addition to a hood that masked his features.

The other thing that caught her attention was the golden gauntlet he wore on his outstretched arm, the item still glowing with the faint hue of energy.

"What the...?" Danni muttered, taking a step forward. "Who is that?"

No sooner had she moved closer to him, the figure turned and sprang away out of view. As the two rangers ran after him, they saw him already far in the distance, running flat out across the snow and the ice.

"Guess we're not likely to find out," Paige muttered, shaking her head. "Pity Nahir's not here. Not a chance he'd outrun her."

Shaking her head, she moved her attention down to the Glace Crystal in her hand, still half covered by the blue layer that had been put across it by persons unknown.

"At least it wasn't a complete loss."

* * *

"And, another artefact for the collection," Katie crowed, pushing the door to the safe closed. "We're getting ever closer... It seem like a while to anyone else since we got that one from the future?"

"You guys went to the future?" Danni asked, surprised by the comment. "Neat. That's awesome. Really really awesome. What was the future like?"  
"Ah, that's really one for another day," Luke said. "But, it has been great seeing you again."

"Just promise me one thing," Danni remarked, looking around at the rangers on the bridge. "If you ever find out who that figure in the coat and the hood is, let me know. It's really got me curious."

"That we might be able to promise," Xavier laughed. "But, we have to find out first. You're not the only one who is curious about it."

"Just promise me that you guys stay safe," the yellow SDI ranger said, looking around at all of them. "Even Duo. Hey, I don't want there to be a big ranger reunion in ten or so years time and some of us are missing."

"Ten years time..." Duo muttered, shaking his head. "Hopefully, we won't still be fighting monsters, mutants, cyborgs or whatever then."

"Never can tell," Bill remarked. "Hopefully in that time, I'll have retired back to my cottage on the Cerulean Cape."

"Anyway, I can only say it so many times," Danni said, again looking around at them all. "Don't get killed. I wouldn't like that."

"So, I guess you'll be heading back to Sinnoh then," Nahir commented. "Good luck with whatever you do there."

"Yeah, and say hi to Andrew for us," Katie offered. "We're probably not going to call on you again."

"It's not likely, is it?" Luke remarked, as Danni started to head for Nahir's yellow Hover Chaser, the vehicle parked out on the deck. "This isn't goodbye, it's just we're probably not going to see each other again for a while."

"Damn straight," Duo said, a weak smile on his face. "So... What next for us?"

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Hmmm... What indeed?**

**Whatever you say, I think it's nice to bring back Danni and Andrew for one last swan song. And unless I do a U-Turn and bring them back in the season finale, this will be the final appearance for both of them.**

**Almost a metaphor for that final appearance, what with the Houndoom Zord blowing up.**

**Heh, here's a bit of trivia. The first time that the Glace Crystal appeared, it was in chapter thirty six of G-Force. The second time that it appeared, chapter thirty six of Genesis Overload. Completely by accident.**

**Thanks for the reviews. All completely appreciated.**

**Plus, a reference to that most pointless of areas, Amity Square. Other than to get loose and random items, it was pretty much pointless.**

**Another Dark Spectre bites the dust and the Toxic Armour makes an appearance. Probably the last piece of equipment that they'll get. I think...**

**And who is that figure... Remember him? That will be revealed next chapter. Which is entitled What Lies Beneath and the preview is below.**

**So, thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Danni is answering to this chapter.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Thirty Seven, What Lies Beneath, preview.**

**Katie: Any particular reason why you two are shanking golf balls into the ocean?  
Duo: Practice.**

**Luke: We've got a strange reading from the trophy at a golf course.**

**Duo: We think that the trophy might contain an artefact, so we're going to win it.**

**Bill: Someone else is taking out Dark Spectres.**

**Xavier: We need to find out who it is right away. This is dangerous.**

**Paige: You!**

**?: Long time no see. You miss me?**

**?: And this final putt will decide the way that the trophy goes...**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon. I know I can't wait...**


	37. What Lies Beneath

Chapter Thirty Seven. What Lies Beneath.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_With the spirits of the Silent Strike Megazord informing them that they needed to find the Glace Crystal for the collection, the rangers regrouped to discuss Danni. It didn't take long for Nahir and Paige to head over to Sinnoh and pick her up. After a brief discussion, Danni and Paige went to the highest peak of the Merlin Plateau, hunting for the remains of the artefact. After encountering a ranger, they made their way to the cavern before being attacked by Jyllatile, a Dark Spectre that was following them. As both rangers morphed to take her on, Paige unleashed Bill's brand new weapon onto Jyllatile, the Toxic Armour. After a brief battle with the Zords, which included the destruction of the Houndoom Zord, the two female rangers were saved by a mysterious figure wearing a golden gauntlet, who vanished before they could talk to him. Later, Danni again said her goodbyes to the rangers on the Silver Gyarados before leaving..._

_

* * *

_

"Hmmm..."

"What a way to spend the night, huh?" Luke muttered, ignoring the musing from the other man. "Random flash of energy, so now we're running around to try and pinpoint it."

"Think that it could possibly have been spent better," Duo commented, getting up from where he had been examining the ground. "Like sleeping. Dreaming. Thinking about stuff."

"Oh goody!" the purple ranger remarked, sarcastically. "Let's share deepest darkest thoughts."

He paused for a moment, trying to feel his way around where they were, before speaking up again.

"Where are we, anyway? I wasn't paying attention on the way over. Plus, it's dark."

"Errr... I think that we're at the Perrin City golf course," Duo remarked, looking around in bemusement. "I'd rather be on the nineteenth hole right now."

"The nineteenth hole?" Luke asked, looking over to the dark outline of the club house in the distance. "The bar? Brilliant, let's check out the building. If you were going to steal something, or... Do whatever, I don't know, it's probably more likely to be over there than here on the fifteenth fairway."

"So... You play golf?"

"I'm a rich white guy, of course I play golf," Luke laughed, already starting to head over to the club house. "I've played here many many times."

"Guess I'm following you then," the black ranger remarked, shaking his head. "Seriously, you've played here?"

"Yeah, many times. Think I already said that."

"Cool."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. The Cobra Rangers appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefact's. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Cobra Rangers transform into the Silent Strike Megazord._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord and North Wind Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

"Is it exactly as you remember it?" Duo asked, following Luke inside the building, the purple ranger having used his telekinesis ability to open the lock up, evading the alarm system. "Never got in here before."

"Are you a member?"

"Nope."

"That's why then. I didn't know you played golf."

"Well, normally I don't," Duo answered, rubbing the back of his head. "I play about twenty games each year. It's not a regular thing."

"You any good?" Luke wondered, glancing down at the portable scanner that he had been given by Bill earlier to help them pin down the energy signature. "Because..."

"I'm not bad. Could be better, could be worse. If I played more, I bet I could be really good."

"Part of golf is being really arrogant," the purple ranger remarked, nodding in appreciation. "Not a big part, but it helps."

"See where you might fit in there then," Duo smirked, still following Luke away across the foyer. "But... You know where it is that we're going yet?"

Looking up in front of him, Luke let out a whistle of appreciation at the sight of where they were headed.

"The trophy room," he said, rubbing both hands together. "Which is interesting to know. Whatever that energy spike was..."

Not even finishing his sentence, he brought his hand up and pushed the door open with the power of his mind, revealing the room behind it, the riches within laden complete with various trophies from floor to ceiling.

"... It came from here. Mmm-hmm."

"You think that it's a trophy?" Duo wondered. "Because, there's got to be about forty in there. It'll take a while to check them all."

Again, Luke let out a grunt of acceptance, before glancing at the one in the middle of the room. A large silver trophy with an oak base and two ears at the top.

"That one looks good," he remarked, looking down at the scanner. "Seems to match as well. There's definitely readings coming off it."

"Great, so let's steal it and make our way..." Duo started to say, before seeing the look that his fellow ranger was giving him. "What?"

"We're not thieves," Luke demanded, giving him a filthy look. "I'm not stealing from this place. That happens to be the first prize in the tournament that they're holding... Not tomorrow, but the day after. If we steal it, it goes against everything that we stand for."

"When were you so up on upholding the law?"

"When it became about something that I care for," Luke replied, coldly. "You steal from a golf club, it's bad karma."

"So, how are we going to get it then?" Duo demanded, throwing both hands up in exasperation. "Seriously, I want to know."

"I have a suggestion actually," the purple ranger smirked, again rubbing both hands together. "A pretty good one."

* * *

"Okay, grip it and rip it."

Bringing the driver up, Duo quickly smashed it against the ball, sending it sailing high and far through the air until it came down into the ocean.

"Nice shot," Luke muttered, moving over to his own tee, the purple ranger testing his own club, before moving to hit it, the shot easily matching the distance that Duo's had gone. "Huh, bet I can increase a few yards onto it with telekinesis."

"Isn't that cheating?"

"Yeah, I suppose. That said, if it comes down to the last hole, and I need to hole a forty yard putt to win, or if we're losing drastically I might add a little touch of fate to the shot."

"I still can't believe that you entered us up," Duo muttered, shaking his head. "Was there really no other way for us to do this?"

"Nope, not at all," the purple ranger replied, before the two heard a cough behind them, before turning to see Katie walking down the stairs towards them, a puzzled look on her face.

"Any particular reason why you two are shaking golf balls into the ocean?" the red ranger asked, looking at the two of them. "Or, are you just incredibly bored waiting for something to happen."

"Practice," Duo replied, placing another ball on his tee. "Lots and lots of it."

"We've got a strange reading from the trophy at a golf course," Luke offered, grinning at her. "Right? You following?"

"Just about. It's heavily complicated stuff but I'm following," Katie replied, sarcastically. "Your point is?"

"We think that the trophy might contain an artefact, so we're going to win it," Duo quickly said, hitting another ball into the ocean. "Rather than steal it, which would be a crime. It's the first prize in a tournament tomorrow. Members get free entry, along with their playing partner. We win the trophy, we can examine it."

"I still think stealing it would have worked just as well," the black ranger remarked, watching her head away in the opposite direction, back up the stairs. "But, let's get as much practice in as possible. Otherwise, we might crash and burn."

* * *

"Well, that's those two off doing something useful," Katie said, walking onto the bridge, where Bill, Lance, Nahir, Paige, Xavier and Ryan were all waiting. "They've come up with a beauty, it involves them trying to win a golf tournament."

"Ah, it's a noble sport," Lance replied, quickly. "It's so much better than tennis."

"To be fair to them, there is a small energy reading at the golf club," Bill offered. "I sent them over last night, they did come back and mention that the might have tracked it down."

"What sort of reading is it?" Xavier asked, interested. "Genesis, Spectre, UFER..."

"UFER?" Paige asked, giving the blue ranger a bemused look of surprise. "Something that you're trying to..."

"Unidentified Flying Energy Reading," Xavier said, quickly, his voice dropping slightly. "My little joke. That quickly failed."

"So, what can we amuse ourselves with until those two either win that trophy or fail miserably and have to try to steal it?" Nahir wondered. "There is one huge thing that I wouldn't mind knowing."

"The figure who helped Danni and Paige on the Plateau?" Ryan asked, stroking his chin. "We're trying to find one man, or woman, in an entire region. Let me know when you've got a place to start."

"Someone else is taking out Dark Spectres," Bill remarked, grinning at everyone. "I say that we start with the Dark Spectres."

"We need to find out who it is right away," Xavier said. "This is dangerous. If it's some yahoo off the streets looking for a thrill, they could get badly hurt. At least we know what we're doing."

"Sort of," Nahir muttered. "We still know nothing about these things."

* * *

"Nice day for it," Luke commented, as the two rangers found themselves making their way towards the check in desk. "No rain, no snow..."

"Anyone that you know playing in the tournament?" Duo wondered, grinning over at a pair of female spectators. "Any old rivals that could come back and bite you?"

"Seriously, what's wrong with you, thinking that?" the purple ranger demanded, shrugging his shoulders. "It's not a clichéd movie where it all turns into my triumph over my sporting rival."

"Okay, Happy Gilmore, I was just kidding," Duo quickly said, taking a step back. "Let's get over there and prepare to hit the fairways."

* * *

"How hard can it be to track down a Dark Spectre?" Paige wondered, the five remaining rangers all watching Bill run the satellite across the region, almost with disinterest. "Come on, there has to be something out there. Some way that you can track them down."

"Do you know a way that it can be done?" Bill demanded, slightly irritated by the comment. "Because, if you do, I'd just love to know it."

"Okay, there's no need for that, Bill," Lance interjected, taking a step forward to calm the aggravated PokéManiac down. "Calm it down."

"What I was trying to say," Paige replied, a little annoyed by the way Bill had reacted at her comment. "Is that if there's a way that it can be done, surely you can figure it out. You're good like that."

"Bill," Xavier said, looking over to the red haired PokéManiac. "Remember when we've had previous encounters with Dark Spectres. Octomius, Infiltra and Jyllatile. You must have picked something up then with the satellite scanners. Is there anything consistent in their attacks?"

"I'll go over it, see what I can find," Bill remarked, moving over to his console. "But, all of those were picked up when they took on a host body similar to their original one before they became Dark Spectres, when they did something out of the ordinary or when they were attacking. So, I'm not holding out for much hope. We, and by that I mean me, have tried scanning for them before with no luck. For all intents and purposes, they're invisible in their spectral form."

"Unless there is some recurring thing in those three cases," Nahir commented, leaning over to try and get a better look at the screen Bill was sat in front of. "Something that you can grab and try and scan for. With one isolated incident, you might be out of luck. Two, probably more or less the same. Three... There's a bigger picture."

"If you're that confident in this, then get over and help on out," Bill muttered. "I welcome your input."

* * *

"So, this is the quick rundown of the tournament," Luke said, quickly giving Duo the information after the black ranger had made the comment about taking four days out of his life. "In the morning, we play eighteen holes. The top four teams after that round then compete across the front nine, the two lowest scoring teams get knocked out after those nine holes, before the final two teams go the back nine to decide the winner."

"Alternate shots, yeah? You take one, I take the next? Seriously, that the competition structure? Man."

"That's the game. Perrin Club special tournament rules. Separates the men from the... ones that are worse at golf."

"Sounds about right," Duo remarked. "Well, don't hit it into the rough with your tee shots every single time and we won't argue."

"Don't bunker them every time I send them straight down the middle and..." Luke retorted, grinning at him. "And we won't argue."

"Already arguing, are we?"  
The smug voice came from the man stood in front of them, a black haired figure wearing a stetson, red shirt and jeans, along with a pair of cowboy boots.

"You'll be doing that a lot by the end of the day," he remarked, smirking over at the two rangers. "Especially when we clean up and take the trophy. Right Maxi?"

The shorter figure next to him, wearing a yellow shirt and jeans, nodded at them, mirroring the smirk on his playing partner's face.

"Keep telling yourselves that," Luke retorted. "Whoever you are."

"I'm the club champion," the cowboy hat man shot back. "Raul Kempes. This is my playing partner, the former club champion, Maxi Mascherano. We're going to clean up, taking glory back to our day job."

"Suppose you've got to have something to celebrate when you go back to the burger place," Duo commented, leaning back against the wall at the side of the clubhouse. "Along with your employee of the month award. Bet that was a tight fought contest against two spotty teenagers, a pensioner who is one bad day away from suicide and a hyper intelligent Mr. Mime."

"Actually, we're both corporate heavyweights on our day off from the largest corporation in Verger," Kempes said, smugly. "So, that proves your theory to be completely wrong."

"I didn't think that Sunderland Industries let their staff take the day off to play golf..." Luke started to say, before the two of them burst out laughing.

"They've had their time," Mascherano smirked, folding his arms. "We work for Reims."

"Thought that Reims were a joke," Duo remarked. "That's what you always said."

"Reims are not a joke," Kempes commented, giving the two of them the same smug look. "We are the largest corporation in Verger. See you two on the fairways..."

Watching the two of them saunter away, the black ranger turned to his playing partner.

"So... They're bigger than you?" Duo asked, a mock-evangelical look on his face. "Really? Well, I say you, I mean your father's company..."

"No, they're the biggest corporation in Verger doing what they do. It's grandstanding. We're a multi-regional corporation, which makes us... Anyway, mind games are over. Let's play some golf."

* * *

"Hey, check out what I've got," Bill laughed, pushing his chair back away from the console to show a live satellite feed of the first hole at the golf club where Luke and Duo were playing. "We can see what's happening with them. Watch them crash and burn..."

"They might not," Nahir pointed out. "They might do well. You ever think that?"

"Nope," Ryan commented. "Doesn't playing a team sport..."

"Which golf normally isn't," Katie remarked, interrupting him on the spot. "So..."

"... Require the players to be in complete harmony while engaged in the contest. Those two could snap at any moment and lose their cool, they could fall out... It's likely. Given the way both of them are."

"You ever consider the possibility that you might be raining on their parade?" Xavier asked, as Luke stepped out onto the tee to make his opening shot on the par four. "Come on. If it all goes wrong, they can just use their abilities to... Bend the laws of gravity. And physics. And golf."

"He'll crash one straight down the middle," Nahir said confidently, watching Luke bring his club back...

... And do exactly as she had foretold, hitting it a good two hundred and eighty yards, a logo on the side of the screen telling them that he had been hitting it into the wind.

"See," the yellow ranger remarked, a little more smugly than she had to. "Okay, let's see Duo possibly mess it up."

"That's not going to happen," Katie offered. "Since we've got nothing better to do, you want to have some little side bets on this?"

"I'll bite," Ryan said, quickly. "Twenty bucks says he hits it into the bunker."

* * *

Bringing his five iron up, Duo caught the ball sweetly and brought it down onto the green, earning himself some applause from the watching spectators around him.

"Nice shot," Luke remarked, heading over to the green, his putter already in his hands. "I'll just knock this in for a birdie, and we'll take it on from there."

* * *

"Hand it over," Katie said, giving the green ranger a smug look. "Or, double or nothing? I bet he holes it."

"Mmmm..." Ryan said, quickly musing on it, before dropping another twenty dollar bill down onto the table. "Let's go for it."

"There is, of course, a serious point to all of this," Lance remarked, giving all of them looks of bemusement. "Bill, how goes the search of the region for any Dark Spectres?"

"Still a whole lot of nothing," the PokéManiac answered, it quickly becoming apparent that it was his turn to give out a strained look. "This isn't easy, they're very adept at hiding."

"How annoying," Ryan remarked, first for the comment about the lack of Spectre action, second for the sight of Luke sinking his putt to put himself and the black ranger one under for the day. "I think I might have to stop the betting. Otherwise, I'll end up whiting out."

* * *

"Damnit!"

The shout came from Duo on the sixth hole par three as his tee shot sailed up into the air and into the water, much to his dismay. It sank like a Golem in the ocean, the black ranger already shaking his head as he moved over to watch Luke take the next shot.

"Just when we're two under as well," the purple ranger muttered, giving him a dark look. "Come on, head in the game."

"I know, I know," he shot back, already seeing Luke take an approach shot and land the ball on the green roughly two feet away from the hole. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry, take more care with the wind," his playing partner warned. "Okay?"

"Okay, I got it," Duo replied, already trotting out onto the expanse of the green to line up his shot. "Just knock it in for bogey and we'll move on."

Even as he finished speaking, the black ranger did so, relieved by the sound of the small white ball dropping into the cup. What was more surprising was the pat on the shoulder he earned from Luke as he came over, the two of them ready to make their way to the next tee.

"Just keep concentrating," the purple ranger said. "You're doing well. Just keep calm, keep focused and we'll do it."

Upon making their way across the grass, he found himself glancing across to the scoreboard to see how they were doing in the scheme of things. Currently, they were tied in third place with two other teams, behind the joint leaders of Mascherano and Kempes who were four under with another group after ten holes.

"We're not too far behind," Duo commented. "We're one under, right? So, if we birdie the next hole and nobody else does, we'll be third alone behind them and in the next round."

"Lot can happen in twelve holes," his playing partner remarked. "Don't get cocky."

* * *

"It could be worse," Nahir commented, smiling slightly as the video pictures on the screen showed Luke stepping up to the tee. "At least they aren't getting battered every which way out of sight."

"No, they're not," Xavier remarked, a trifle sarcastically. "Amazing how one days worth of practice can suddenly make them brilliant. They have to slip up somewhere."

"What's up with the negativity all of a sudden?" Lance wondered, not really taking his eyes off the screen as Luke made a less than perfect drive off the tee, the shot kissing the rough edges of the fairway. "Not like you at all."

"Guess I'm just bored of hanging around waiting for something to happen," the blue ranger replied. He leaned back in his seat to shrug at the Dragon Master while speaking, letting his head slip back onto the top of his chair while he looked at the ceiling. "Guess I was right about them slipping up."

* * *

Swearing silently under his breath, Duo brought his three wood back and took a furious swipe at the ball, striking it away down the fairway. It evaded the bunker to the front left of the green, but still fell short of the island of green more than twenty yards ahead of it. Already, he could hear Luke applauding the effort as he made to follow it away down the fairway.

"Sorry I couldn't get the better of that," he muttered, following his playing partner. "Just didn't get as much on it as..."  
"Hey, I think you did good in the circumstances," the purple ranger commented. "Don't worry, I'll hole it here for an eagle."

And that he did. His shot went impossibly high, rolling an even greater distance until slipping gracefully into the hole, the smirk on his face a sight worth seeing as he turned back to his playing partner.

"It's all in the mind," he said, a little too much emphasis on the final word as the black ranger returned the grin. "Three under for the day."

* * *

"No way he made that shot on skill alone," Katie remarked, shaking her head in disbelief. "That's impossible."

"A big part of golf is being mentally strong," Lance offered. "Although, I doubt telekinesis comes into that phrase somehow. It probably wasn't what the original meaning of the thought was."

"Think I might be getting something," Bill mused, softly. He turned away from the screen to show several black dots on the map of Verger. "I'm very slowly picking something up, it might take a while but I've narrowed down several areas."

* * *

On the seventeenth, with the two rangers still three under par, they ran into trouble. Luke's opening tee shot had found the trees and the follow up shot from Duo had barely halved the fairway. With two shots down, the purple ranger managed to thrash his shot onto the rear of the green, nearly twenty feet from the hole.

"Come on," he muttered, giving his playing partner a desperate look. "Need to pull something out of the hat here."

With Duo moving over to take his putt, he looked over to the scoreboard, seeing that they were currently in the last qualifying place behind Kempes and Mascherano, with two other groups there sandwiching the Reims employees. On the par four they were currently playing, unless Duo holed the putt, they were looking at dropping out of the requirements for getting to the next round.

"Guess it might have to come down to the final hole," he commented, as Duo's putt fell slightly short of dropping into the hole. Moving over to it, the purple ranger easily knocked it in from three feet, not even bothering to look around at the scoreboard.

* * *

Barely ten minutes later, the two of them found themselves making their way off the final hole, a par three, slightly relieved. Having taken several seconds to size up his shot, Duo had teed off and landed it barely inches from the hole, much to Luke's relief as he had made his way downhill and tapped it in for a birdie. With everyone else dropping shots, the efforts over the course of eighteen holes had been enough to send them in in the third qualifying place, avoiding a playoff between three other teams for the final spot in the last four.

"Well, at least we got away with it," Luke said, the two of them going towards the clubhouse to get something to eat. "That's a relief. Although, we will have to be better come the next round. We play like that again..."

"Check that guy out," Duo interrupted, pointing across to where the two of them could see Kempes talking to someone on a cell phone, the golfer doing his best not to be seen by anyone as he lurked behind a pair of trees. "You think he's acting suspicious?"

"A little," the purple ranger commented. "You have to wonder what's so secretive that he can't..."

Without hesitating, Duo broke away from him and began to head towards Kempes, turning invisible as he walked across the grass.

* * *

Pressing himself up against one of the closer trees, the black ranger could just barely hear what was being said ahead of him, Kempes' attempts for secrecy meaning that he wasn't speaking the loudest he possibly could do.

"Yes, yes sir," he said, a slightly subservient tone in his voice. "It's all going fine. We're doing well, we're into the second round and we can win it. I believe we can."

He was almost ready to turn around and leave, his interest well and truly lost in the conversation. The shady way that Kempes had been acting had intrigued him moments earlier, but now it seemed a pointless act that he had gone through with.

That was when he heard it. A name that could have meant anything, but resonated within him for all the wrong reasons.

"Trust me, Dennis," the golfer said, all traces of his previous manner gone. "We'll win this. And then you can examine the trophy for whatever it is that you need..."

Reacting to the phrase, Duo quickly found himself straining closer for information, only for Kempes to hang up and walk away whistling.

* * *

"At least they're through," Bill remarked. "That's... Well, better than any of us expected, I think."

As if to answer him, the communication system beeped loudly, the sound alerting everyone on the bridge. Even as the PokéManiac answered it, the voices of Luke and Duo came through the system.

"Hey guys!" Duo called. "How's it going? You missing us?"

As the black ranger finished speaking, Xavier couldn't help but make the comment to poke at the two rangers.

"So, Luke," he said, quickly. "How many shots have you altered with your ability? We're really wondering at that. We've spotted at least two, so..."

"All of that has been complete and utter skill," the purple ranger retorted. "Apart from that one shot which went in for the eagle."

"Pay up!" Nahir shouted, grinning at the blue ranger. "Now!"

"What's up, guys?" Lance asked, folding his arms as he looked over to the console where the voices were coming from. "You just called up for the banter, or...?"

"We think that the Coppingers have a ringer in the competition," Duo replied. "I just overheard a call from one of them to a guy named Dennis who wants to examine the trophy."

"Are you two so bored waiting for the next round that you're listening in on private conversations?" Paige wondered, rolling her eyes at what the black ranger had just said. "Because..."

"That does sound worrying," Katie said, moving closer to the communications array. "It really does. It could be innocent, but..."

"Anything else you know about the ringer?" Lance asked. "Anything that might help us know for sure?"

"They work for Reims," Luke offered, speaking into his communicator. "Personally, I think that's enough reason to hang, draw and quarter them but..."

"Huh," the Dragon Master interrupted, a little sarcastic in his comment. "Don't suppose you know that Reims is a Coppinger front? We've long suspected that to be the case, but there's actually very little proof of it rushing around. They may not be Coppingers per se, a lot of regular people work there who have no idea what goes on behind the scenes, but they are working for them it would appear."

"So, not mutants then?" Duo asked, a little sadly. "We don't get to morph and beat the crap out of them if they get the trophy instead of us."

"Well, if that happens, you might want to miss the morphing part out," Nahir commented. "That'd probably help."

"It is imperative that whatever this trophy is, it does not fall into Coppinger hands," Bill remarked. "Just... Use your best judgement if it comes down to it."

"That's just asking for trouble," Paige said, grinning at the thought. "Do you guys actually have any judgement?"

"Just luck," Duo replied, sarcastically. "I've got to this point in my life purely on luck, rather than making any brilliant judgement calls."

"I can believe it," Katie remarked. "So, what now for you guys? Anything special?"

"Lunch and then tee off again," Luke answered. "It makes you quite hungry, all this golf. Other than that, hopefully we'll be back with the trophy in the next six hours."

"You guys doing much?" Duo wondered, trying to make some more conversation. "Because we'd just hate you to be sat around bored while we do this."

"Actually, we're watching you," Nahir commented. "So, that's the boredom part accurate... I jest. Go on, get going guys!"

"Good luck," Katie offered, sentiments that were quickly echoed by the rest of the rangers before the line went dead.

"Coppingers on the golf course," Ryan said, softly. "It's like a really bad mystery. Somehow."

* * *

The first nine holes of the second round came and went. With a mixture of skilled play, the use of their abilities... (Duo had gone invisible at one point and stopped an opponent from knocking a tap in for a birdie) and their opponents dropping shots, the two rangers found themselves entering the back nine needing to beat Mascherano and Kempes to take the trophy. The other two pairs had finished below them, now settled in third and fourth place before heading to the club house to drown their sorrows.

"Look at that," Duo commented, as he and Luke stood face to face with their opponents on the tenth hole tee. "You actually can play golf. Thought you were just bluffing."

"I never bluff when I'm being deadly serious," Mascherano retorted, giving the two of them a dirty look. "So there!"

Instead of rising to the bait, the two rangers chose to remain solid and steely in the face of what their opponents might throw up against them.

"After you," Luke finally said, gesturing to the tee. "We insist."

* * *

"Got it! I've got it!" Bill yelled, leaping out of his seat. "Oh, you thought that you could run from Uncle Bill, but I've tracked you down, you pesky little critter. Nothing escapes me!"

As he began to laugh away at his victory, the other people on the bridge looked at each other a little uneasily, before he regained his composure to speak.

"Sorry, he's been causing me grief. If it's a him. Or a her. I don't know. It might be genderless. Anyway... Here's a little riddle for you. When you leave a Ditto at the breeding centre with another Pokémon for breeding purposes, how come it always transforms into a Pokémon of the opposite gender when by law it should transform into an exact replica of the one that is already there."

"Bill..." Katie said, a little tired by the outburst he had just made. "What have you got?"

"Oh, right," the PokéManiac replied, a little sheepishly. "I found a Dark Spectre. It surfaced in... Let me see..."

Pausing slightly, he turned back to the computer, double checking his findings before grinning around at the rangers.

"There's one in Sycamore City. I'll upload the coordinates to you and you can get down there and check it out."

"Brilliant!" Xavier exclaimed, almost leaping out of his seat. "Finally some action."

* * *

It had come down to this. The final hole. The previous eight had been a massive struggle between the two teams to try and grab a lead. As both of them had quickly discovered, taking the lead wasn't a problem. Keeping it was harder. On the tenth hole, the two rangers had managed to win the hole, before the next two had been won by Mascherano and Kempes, putting them one up. The next hole, the thirteenth had been halved, before a thirty foot putt from Luke had evened them up at the fourteenth. The fifteenth hole hadn't revealed a leader, before Kempes chipped into the hole from the rough on the sixteenth to put himself and Mascherano one up. On the seventeenth, their previous nemesis, the two rangers managed to redeem themselves and win the hole to take it all level. On the final hole, the par three that they had done so well on earlier, Luke's opening drive had been well placed, but Mascherano had caught the wind, leaving him way off. With the greater distance to the hole, Kempes had then missed the putt by barely inches, leaving the black ranger to step up with the chance to win it.

"And this final putt will decide the way that the trophy goes..." the announcer said, his voice dropping several octaves as Duo stepped up to his ball, the putter in hand. "If he makes it, Sunderland and Roronoa will take the championship."

Standing where he was, Luke heard both Kempes and Mascherano whispering the word 'miss' under their breath several times. Already, he was prepared to give the ball a touch of psychic interference if need be, yet the purple ranger was more than willing to give Duo the benefit of the doubt.

Drawing several deep breaths, the black ranger crouched down, checking the lie of the green to determine his aim. Standing back up, he took up the position and started to bring it back slowly, trying to ascertain the power he needed to put behind it. The silence of the crowd behind him was almost deafening, the only sound of breathing threatening to get to him.

Finally making his choice, he brought the club back and struck the ball, watching it go off on its path...

* * *

"This is just about typical," Paige remarked, shaking her head. "An alley. The bane of our existence."

"You didn't have to come if you didn't want to, Paige," Xavier retorted, angrily. "Seriously... We don't hang out in that many alleys."

"That's for creepy maniacs," Nahir offered, trying to be helpful. "And our two resident maniacs are off on the golf course."

"That's not a nice thing to say," Katie remarked, looking around the alley for any signs of what Bill had found with the scanners barely minutes earlier. "You guys see anything?"

"What are we looking for then?" Ryan wondered, the green ranger folding his arms to keep out the bitter cold of the wind in the air. "The thing is with Dark Spectres... They're good at hiding in dark alleys."

"He has a point, Katie," Xavier said, bringing up a torch to flash around the alley, the beam of light raking around the darkness with little effect. "It is like looking for a Magmar in flames."

"Yeah, I already thought of that," the red ranger remarked, dryly. Without hesitating, she reached into her pocket and drew something out, tossing it into the middle of the alley. No sooner had the rest of the rangers realised that it was one of the Genesis artefacts that they had previously recovered, they were assaulted with the sight of the Dark Spectre in question erupting from a trash can to pounce on the item...

Just as quickly, a figure leaped out from behind something they couldn't quite make out, a golden gauntlet on his arm...

* * *

"Sorry, boys."

The voice came from Kempes, the Coppinger in front of them blocking their way out of the club with the trophy. Having expected it as soon as Duo had dropped the winning putt and they'd collected the item in question at the presentation ceremony afterwards, both rangers shifted into fighting stances, realising that he could well turn violent.

"You're not getting it, we will defend ourselves if it must be," Luke warned, seeing the puzzled look flashing already across Kempes' face. "So..."

"What are you talking about?" he asked, puzzled by the warning. "I just wanted to apologise for the attempt at psyching you out earlier. We all say things with mind games... Hey, you played some great golf. Unbelievable shots. Tell you what, how about we have a drink in the bar and call it evens."

"Well, that sounds pleasant," Luke remarked. "Guess for someone who works for Reims..."

Interrupting him, Kempes was suddenly thrown forward by an unknown force, the smaller frame of Maxi Mascherano behind him, the eyes black with something beyond them.

"Oh nuts!" Duo exclaimed, seconds before the possessed figure brought up his hands and threw them aside easily, the power of his mind forcing them against the white painted walls.

"Dark Spectre?" Luke wondered, before seeing the smile play across the figure's mouth. "Possessing a Coppinger. That's irony."

Upon his attack, Duo had dropped the trophy to the floor, the Dark Spectre was already making his way to retrieve it for himself...

... Only for Luke to pick it up with his own telekinesis and smash it into the face of the being, Mascherano's body flailing back in pain. His concentration broken, the two rangers were instantly free from his grasp and able to get back into the fight. With the possessed Mascherano moving up to attack them, Luke hit him in the face with a telekinesis backed punch, the strike staggering him.

"Give! Me! The! Trophy!" the figure roared, leaping back towards them. "Now!"

"You didn't say please," Duo retorted, the black ranger already in motion to dive aside and scoop up the trophy. "And, you didn't win it, so..."

Throwing his hand up into the air...

I really hope Bill managed to get this fixed, he thought with a grimace as he opened his mouth to speak. Otherwise, I'm going to look a bit of a fool...

... "Cress Crystal!"

Just as he had expected, the weapon appeared in his hand, the teleporting amps that Bill had placed around it doing their jobs. Even as it began to glow in the presence of the Dark Spectre, Duo flung his arm forward and forced it into Mascherano's chest. It didn't take long for the light and the force of the crystal to fling the being out of the Coppinger's chest, the shadowy being vanishing instantly in a crumble of dust. It didn't take long for the unconscious Mascherano to follow him to the ground, the figure grunting in pain as he hit the floor.

"Well..." Luke said, dusting the front of his shirt off. "That was unexpected. Very unexpected."

"I say we get out of here as quickly as possible," Duo remarked, pocketing the crystal before making for the door. "Before we get asked some questions we find difficult to answer."

* * *

As the golden light penetrated the chest of the Dark Spectre, the four rangers saw the figure behind it, already lowering his golden gauntlet, his face covered by a golden mask rather than the hood as before.

"That your guy, Paige?" Katie asked, the figure already turning to run. "And, that's not going to work twice."

Even as she finished speaking, Nahir had already moved, her body a blur as she easily overtook the moving figure and ploughed him into the ground, the mask dropping away from his face.

"You!" Paige exclaimed, seeing the face of the figure as the mask dropped to the floor. "That's... That's not possible."

"Long time no see," he said, a nervous grin on his now revealed face. It was slightly different than before, he looked older than before and he now had a beard. But, there was no mistaking him as he lay on the ground in front of them. "You miss me?"

It was Crane...

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**It's Crane... Crane... Crane! What's he doing there?**

**Answers soon. Very soon.**

**If you hate golf, then it's probably not the greatest chapter for you. But, either way hope that you got some enjoyment out of the side plot of the others doing what the others do.**

**Next one will have answers... Many answers.**

**Thanks for the reviews. All appreciated.**

**On that next chapter, it's entitled Fury Of The Forest. Preview below. Don't know when...**

**Errr...**

**And there's something very special the chapter after that.**

**Think that's it, so thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Crane is replying for this chapter.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Thirty Eight, Fury Of The Forest, preview.**

**Paige: What are you doing here?**

**Crane: It's a long story.**

**Bill: You seeing this?**

**Crane: Dark Spectre reading in... Slowpoke Forest.**

**Ryan: We can take care of it, if you want to catch up with stuff.**

**Xavier: What's going on with this forest?**

**Bill: There is a legend about that forest, you know.**

**?: His name was Jason. And today is his birthday...**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	38. Fury Of The Forest

Chapter Thirty Eight. Fury Of The Forest.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_After the death of Paige, Crane went back to the future. Later, a shadowy figure wearing a golden gauntlet appeared in an alley. The same figure later saved Paige and Danni from a Dark Spectre attack. As the rangers tried to find out the figure's identity, Luke and Duo went off to compete in a golf tournament to win a strange trophy. Despite facing a Dark Spectre controlled Coppinger, they managed to triumph in the contest, while the others hunted down a Dark Spectre to try and discover the identity of the figure. After he vanquished another Dark Spectre, it was revealed that the figure was none other than Crane..._

_

* * *

_

"What...?"

"The...?"

"Bloody...?"

"Hell are you doing here?" Paige finished, completing the shocked question that Xavier, Katie and Ryan had all started at the sight of their old friend. "I thought that..."

"Yeah, I know what you thought," he replied, getting to his feet. "Paige. It's good to see you again."

"Come again," Nahir suddenly interrupted, a little shocked by his comment. "Last time you were here, she was dead. You come back and..."

"You think I'm surprised by her reappearance, think again," Crane answered, a little colder than was probably needed. "I do know things. Put it this way, I knew that she wasn't dead."

"How?" Ryan asked, suddenly interested in what the former red ranger was saying. "Come on, let's hear it."

"Ah, it's not important."

"Did Dorlinda tell you?" Katie asked, pressing him on the matter. "Or Clarence...?"

"Yeah, I suppose," Crane said, softly musing on the question, almost as if he was far away from the conversation. "In a roundabout way..."

When he wasn't forthcoming with any other information, the rangers decided not to push him.

"Is it worth asking why you came here?" Xavier wondered, looking over at him. "Or..."

"Yes, come on, spill the beans," Paige insisted. "What are you doing here?"

"It's a long story," Crane admitted. "A very long one. And some of it isn't something that can be told. All you need to know is that I'm here to hunt Dark Spectres. A bunch of them escaped from the Prison Dimension where they were kept so I came back to the past to track them down and return them to where they need to be."

At this point, he held up his golden gauntlet, the lights in the alley reflecting off the surface of the metallic glove as he did so.

"And all that using this," he said. "Anyway, hate to say it, but this isn't the best place to talk. Any chance that we can go back to the Silver Gyarados?"

"I guess," Katie muttered, turning to lead the rest of the group out of the alley, only to again be delayed as Crane suddenly spoke up in surprise.

"So, where are Luke and Duo?"

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. Crane appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefacts. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Dark Spectres hover above Coppinger mutant monsters._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord, North Wind Megazord and Silent Strike Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

"We are the champions! We are the champions! No time for losers! Because we are the champions... Of the world!"

As both Luke and Duo walked out onto the bridge, the trophy held high above them, they were both greeted with the sight of Crane stood in there, alongside the other rangers. Much to their surprise, they hadn't been expecting him to be here, Duo almost dropped the trophy in shock.

"Looks like you won something," Crane remarked, grinning at them. "TechBall?"

"Golf," Luke replied. "So... Think that there's probably a question we should be asking here..."

"Go on, I've heard it already," Crane said, his grin growing into a smirk. "I'll not be offended."

"Are you really here, or are you a figment of our imagination?"

"Well, that's a new one," the former red ranger groaned. "But, unless this is a mass hallucination, I'm here."

"He's hunting Dark Spectres," Lance offered. "Which is... Helpful. To say the least."

"Are you sure?" Luke asked, a little surprised at the revelation. "That would seem remarkably like the universe throwing us a break."

"Speaking of which," Bill interrupted, coming over. "But, we may have another problem. In the last few minutes, I've been picking up Dark Spectre activity."

"Really?" Crane asked, glancing down at his gauntlet to try and check something, something that apparently wasn't going to come up to him. "I didn't get that one. Maybe it's..."

"See, it's here," the PokéManiac remarked, gesturing over to the console in front of him. "You seeing this?"

"I believe that I am," Crane answered, dropping into the seat that had been vacated by Bill. "That would appear to be accurate. Dark Spectre reading in... Slowpoke Forest."

"Slowpoke Forest?" Nahir asked, a little sarcastic at the revelation. "There's nothing in the Slowpoke Forest. Other than the Slowpoke Lake..."

"And a few Slowpoke," Duo quipped. "So, what's the problem? We head on over there, kick some Spectre smoke and come back in time to head out again for a good old reunion celebration."

"That's sounds like a fine idea," Crane replied. "Good thinking, Duo."

"Or, we can take care of it," Ryan said, winking over at Crane before jerking his head towards Paige. "If you want to catch up with stuff."

It didn't take long for Paige to catch his meaning and reach over to slap him on the back of the head, the green ranger recoiling from her action.

"Hey!"  
"Hey yourself!" Paige shot back, annoyed at what he was insinuating. "But, on the other hand..."

"I really should go," Crane said. "It's my duty to take care of this threat, it's not something that should be concerning you all."

"We've already taken care of several of them," Katie offered. "They're no trouble to beat. We do have the Cress Crystal, you know."

"Yeah, I remember," Luke said, raising an eyebrow at her. "We used it to defeat a Dark Spectre at the golf club after. Anyway, about this trophy..."

"Ah, yes," Bill remarked, glancing over at it. "I'd forgotten about that. Almost. So, while you guys are out, I'll see what I can find with this thing."

"I'd hate for our day of sacrifice to be for nothing," Duo commented, sarcastically. "So, what's the plan for going to the Slowpoke Forest?"

"If you guys think that you can handle it," Crane said, shrugging both shoulders in passive dismission. "Be my guest. But, if it turns out that you do need help, give me a call."

"Where are you going to be in the meantime?" Xavier wondered, looking over to the red ranger he had worked with on several occasions. "Out of interest."

"Well, I was hoping that I could borrow your white ranger," he said, with what he hoped was a winning grin on his face. "If it's not too much trouble?"

"I can't really give you an order on that one, Paige," Katie quickly said. "But, we can probably take care of this, no problem."

"Then it's settled then," the white ranger replied, smiling over at Crane. "Be good to catch up."

"That was my thinking exactly," he answered, returning the grin at her, a slightly goofy expression slipping across his face in the process.

* * *

"That was a bit of a let down," Luke remarked, getting out of the jeep onto the grass at the banks of the Slowpoke Lake in the middle of the forest. "Seriously, why couldn't we just drop in on the Hover Chasers? Driving is for regular people."

"Think of it as practice for when we're not rangers any more," Nahir commented. "Which will inevitably happen one day. How did you get around in that six months between SDI and the start of the Coppinger attack?"

"Chauffeured limo."

"That was a dumb question to ask," Xavier said, shooting a grin towards the back where Luke, Nahir, Ryan and Duo had been all sat. "Really, it was."

"Guess we don't have your foresight," the yellow ranger shot back, rolling her eyes. "So... What's the plan? Search the forest for leads?"

"That might take a while," Ryan muttered. "You want us to leave no leaf unturned?"  
"No, but I would appreciate it if you left the joke telling to me," Duo said, quickly. "We have only the vaguest idea what we're looking for. I think the word tree and forest comes to mind."

"I know that it might take a while," Katie said, folding her arms. "But, I anticipated this. Which is why I had Bill check the area out. There's a cabin about ten minutes from here which is more or less abandoned. We can use it as a base of operations and..."

Even as she was finishing speaking, Luke began to climb back into the jeep, an uninterested look on his face.

"What?" he asked, seeing the looks that he was getting. "I didn't sign up for a camping trip."

"You were pretty eager to sign up for the golf," Xavier pointed out. "Think of this as your reward. An all expenses paid trip to the middle of nowhere."

"I'd have just been satisfied with a lie in in the morning," the purple ranger retorted. "So, what sort of state is the cabin in?"

"No idea," Katie replied. "Apart from the fact it has four walls and a roof, we're pretty much clueless."

"This gets better every time we hear it," Duo remarked, dryly. "I just hope that this Spectre is worth it."

At that, the six of them heard a rustle in the bushes behind them. In unison, they spun to see what was causing it, only to realise that nothing was there.

"Ominous..." Nahir said. "You want me to take a run over there and..."

"Not worth it," Ryan commented, quickly. "Probably the wind."

"What wind?" Xavier asked, giving the green ranger a surprised look. "A more gentle day you're not likely to find."

"Guys," Katie said, ignoring the argument. "If we're going to have an argument, might as well do it in the relative comfort of the cabin. Come on, let's make the walk."

"This is probably the most depressing mission we've ever had," Luke grumbled. "Seriously... What was the point of this. Should have just let Crane do it and get back to relative peace."

* * *

"So..."

"So indeed," Paige replied, looking across the table. "Back here again."

Having left the Silver Gyarados, the two of them had found their way back to the place serving coffee where they had first heard announcement about the Coppinger Dogbots in the area around Mount Corcus. Before the two of them had been captured, it somehow seemed a lifetime ago.

"I'm interested," Crane said, leaning forward to rest on his hands, his elbows arched on the table. Rather than wear his golden gauntlet as before, he had somehow collapsed it down into a ring, one that was currently around his finger. "How long is it?"

"How long is what?"

"Since we were here? Together."  
"Nearly five months," Paige replied, softly speaking the words aloud as she meditated on the answer. "It's been a while."

"If it's been a while for you," he answered, suddenly letting his facade slip away for a moment, before the hardened exterior returned. "It's been a lifetime for me. Really... I went back thinking that you were dead."

"I wasn't dead!" she protested. "I was trapped inside a piece of NeverMeltIce by a Lord of Time possessing delusions of grandeur."

"Interesting take on Clarence," Crane remarked. "It was thanks to him actually that I knew you were alive."

"He told you?"

"As I said before. In a roundabout way."

"Are you trying to avoid the subject?" Paige asked, a little surprised at the evasive action he was taking to avoid speaking about what had happened to him. "Because..."

"Yes, it's not really something that I can tell you," he said, quickly. "Not now anyway. In several years, you will understand. I promise you."

* * *

"See, this isn't bad," Katie said, pushing the door to the cabin open to reveal a sparsely furnished room behind it, the only problem being the lack of light within the room. "It could be worse..."

Moving inside, she flicked the light switch to check that it was working, nothing promptly happening. Much to the disgust of Luke.

"Great," he remarked, sarcastically. "Middle of nowhere without light. Bring on the night, where we'll be fumbling our way around the room in the dark. Tell me we brought torches."

"Nah, there's some over there," Ryan pointed out, gesturing to a large cardboard box with the word 'Torches' written on it. "And, surely there has to be a generator somewhere."

"It's probably around the back," Nahir offered. "Maybe we should check it out. See if we can turn it on. It's nearly the end of the day, it's going to get dark soon."

"And if not, you can zap the thing with your Storm Staff," Duo remarked, helpfully. "Huh?"

"Duo, stop being helpful," she groaned, already heading off around the corner to check on the generator situation.

"Maybe I should go with her," Luke offered, breaking away from the rest of the rangers. "There could be... Rapidash. Ponyta. Whatever."

As he vanished, the remaining four rangers all rolled their eyes in resignation, shaking their heads as one.

"I just hope that this Dark Spectre isn't going to be annoying to find," Xavier said, softly. "Hanging around this place for a while is going to send you crazy."

* * *

"I'll see you," Katie said, looking down at her cards. With the lights now on, the six of them had decided to search the cabin for anything that could be useful. Apart from some stale water, mouldy bread and the torches, the only other thing of real use had been a deck of playing cards. With the night having fallen, they had decided to take full advantage of the cards and have a game of poker.

"I'm going to say it again," Luke remarked, dropping his cards face down onto the table. "What was the point of this? We got out here barely before dark, there's nothing to do. Might as well have stayed on the Silver Gyarados."

"It's been an interesting few hours for sure," Xavier commented. "It wasn't too long ago that we were in that alley meeting Crane."

"Get back to the Silver Gyarados, come straight back out again," Duo mused. "No rest for the wicked, huh?"

"Lucky that we managed to find that car rental place," Ryan said. "If nothing else, we got here quickly. Remind me why we couldn't use our Hover Chasers again?"

"The forest is too dense to make a safe landing," Nahir replied. "That's why. So... First thing tomorrow, we're going to look for the Dark Spectre right?"

"Well, it's basically shadow, so looking at night is pointless," Xavier remarked. "Unless it's taken on a host body..."

"Don't even joke about that," Duo groaned, dropping his head into his hands. "Those things are incredibly tough when that happens. I'd rather not think about it."

"What was that about a Dark Spectre at the golf club?" Katie asked, looking over at the black and purple rangers. "Something that you mentioned earlier."

"It had... Get this, taken over a Coppinger," Luke remarked, grinning at the memory. "As I said at the time, it's ironic."

Falling silent for several moments, the six of them continued to carry on with the poker. All until Xavier tossed his cards down in frustration, annoyed at having gone bust.

"Stupid bloody game," he muttered, pulling his chair back away from the large table. "What was the point?"

"At least you haven't lost money," Nahir said, trying to placate him to no avail. "Because..."

"I'm starting to agree with Luke," the blue ranger muttered, getting up and heading for the door. "This was pointless coming here at this time. I'm going for some air."

"Storming out in a huff?" Duo asked, trying to suppress a snicker. "Huh?"

His only reply was the blue ranger slamming the door shut behind him, the silence hanging eerily in the air after him before Luke spoke up.

"This night just gets better and better."

* * *

Taking several deep breathes as he walked towards the edge of the clearing, Xavier found himself feeling slightly better. The confined spaces of the cabin had been starting to get to him, although he wasn't claustrophobic, there was something about it. Something that he couldn't quite put his finger on, but it was enough to make him feel uncomfortable.

That was when he heard something. Another rustle in the bushes to his left, the sound enough to grab his attention. Moving over towards it, his attention well and truly grabbed, he began to smell something strange on the wind. It was... He didn't quite know where he had smelt it before at first, before it came to him. Several years ago, he had found himself in a slaughter house completely by accident. It was something like that that assaulted his nostrils right now. Taking another step forward, an almost horrible sense of curiosity overwriting his better judgement. Pushing out into the bushes, out of the clearing, he saw it. Actually, he felt it more first, his boots squelching away onto something that felt like a body part. To be honest, it felt more like a foot of some sort. A clawed foot, something that shouldn't be there.

That was when the moon moved, bathing the area in a slight light. And he saw it it, the entire area below him caked in blood. The red substance was already staining his shoes, the stuff having come from the mangled being in front of him. It could have been an Ursaring once, possibly even more than one. Judging by the blood and body parts, there could have been as many as five there, laid out in the clearing.

"What's going on with this forest?" Xavier wondered in horror, taking a step back from the mutilated Ursaring. "That's seriously messed up."

If there was something in the forest capable of doing that to five angry Ursaring, hanging around in the semi-darkness probably wasn't the best idea.

That was when he heard footsteps. Turning on the spot to face the being causing them...

* * *

"Fold," Nahir replied, dropping her cards onto the table. "No further bidding. Heh, this is just like old times. Remember when there were poker nights at SDI..."

Completely interrupting her, a scream rang out from the world outside the cabin. A voice that sounded unflinchingly like Xavier's, the howl of fear enough to bring all five of them up onto their feet.

"What the hell now?" Katie exclaimed, already heading for the door, the others close behind her. "What's he got himself into?"

Racing out into the forest, they found themselves alone in the clearing. As they fanned out to search the area, it was quickly apparent that there was no sign of Xavier.

"Where the bloody hell is he?" Duo shouted, searching around by the generator. "Not here!"

"Oh, for the love of... That's disgusting!"

By the sound of it, Nahir had found the mutilated Ursaring, the shock easily detectable in her voice.

It didn't take long for the five of them to meet up at that point, the carnage the focal point. As Ryan flashed a torch down onto the ground, the beam of light immediately picked up...

"There are foot prints here," the green ranger replied, tracing them with the light from the torch. "About Xavier's size... He was here. In this spot."

"You see any other footprints around?" Luke asked, glancing at the ground, before raising his eyes back up to the sky. "Or just Ursaring entrails?"

"Not a biscuit," Katie said, still examining the sticky wet earth below her feet. "Almost as if it came out of the trees."

"Please, don't even joke about that," Ryan groaned, taking a step back. "If that was a possibility, I'd be terrified."

"Never mind that," Nahir said, looking for all the world like she wished she was elsewhere. "I think we need a plan. We need to find out one way or another what happened to Xavier."

"Maybe we should give Bill a call," Luke suggested. "See if he can narrow it down on what we might be dealing with."

"You really think that's something that he can get for us?" Duo wondered, sarcastically. "We'd probably be better off asking Crane, see if he knows what we might be up against."

"Is it worth reminding the two of you that I make the decisions?" Katie asked, reprimanding both of them. "I'll call Bill and see where we stand here."

* * *

"Hmmm, that sounds problematic," the PokéManiac remarked, both he and Lance listening in on what the rangers had to say. "Very problematic. So, you say he had just vanished?"  
"Worryingly, yes," Katie answered. "We know it's probably a long shot, but is there anything that you can tell us about this place? Anything at all?"

"Funny actually," Lance commented, shaking his head in bemusement at what was being asked of them. "Because we're currently unable to get anything done on the trophy for the lack of parts, we've just been looking at the Slowpoke Forest and what we can discover about it."

"There is a legend about that forest, you know," Bill added, sagely. "All I'm going to say is that I'm glad I'm not out there."

"Why, what's the bad news?" Duo wondered. "Because, with a comment like that, you just know it's going to be completely terrible."

"You're so negative," Nahir said, rolling her eyes at him. "Would it kill you to be positive for once?"

"About twenty or so years ago," Bill replied, ignoring the two of them to carry on with making his own point. "There was a summer camp in that forest, right next to the Slowpoke Lake. Children of pretty much most ages went there, coming from far and wide... It was a happy place is what I'm saying."

"Sounds lovely," Ryan remarked. "See, no negativity there. Unless you dislike the idea of kids having fun."

"That's not the worrying part of the story," Lance offered, quickly. "Before you get too relaxed. Well, there was a drowning. One of the kids ended up in the lake and... Well, the details are a little unclear, but there was a heavy suggestion that it was done by a mixture of several campers and councillors. As said, the details are a little unclear, everyone seems to follow the same story. Either it's true, or it's complete crap."

"That's the legend?" Luke asked. "That's more of a rumour. A mixed bag of councillors and campers murder a child? It could have been an accident."

"If you'd let us finish," Bill replied, the PokéManiac leaning back in his seat for comfort. "Then we'll finish the story. Several days after the boy drowned, the campsite caught fire. Quite a few people died in the attack, more were injured. Ever since then, there have been rumours, legends, stories that the vengeful figure of the boy who died rose out of the grave and takes his revenge on anyone who enters the forest. The bodies are never found..."

"Wait a second," Ryan interrupted. "If the bodies are never found, how does the tale get told? That just makes no sense."

"Exactly, it doesn't add up," Katie replied. "I think I can say with almost positive belief that we're not dealing with a mass murderer who has issues with people coming into the forest."

Right on cue, the lights in the cabin went out, bathing the five of them in darkness. With the atmosphere as it was, it was all they could do to avoid some sort of audible reaction.

"The generator has just coughed out," Duo said, softly. "It's not been tampered with, it just needs booting up."

"Nice of you to volunteer," Luke quickly pointed out. "It's just round the back."

"You want me to go out into there with a potential mass murderer on the loose?" the black ranger asked, giving him a reproachful look. "Have you never seen horror movies? The guy who wanders out on his own always gets it."

"Yeah, but this isn't a horror movie."

Still groaning, Duo turned tail and began to head for the door, slamming it shut behind him.

* * *

"Nice night, huh?"

After the all night coffee place, the two of them had decided to continue their catching up on the Silver Gyarados, rather than in the relative public areas of Verger. Despite her best efforts, Paige's curiosity had failed to be sated, no matter how hard she had tried, Crane wasn't revealing anything about the future he had come from.

When she didn't answer his question, remaining silent, he spoke up again.

"Come on," the former ranger insisted, reaching down to try and take her hand. "If I could tell you it all, I would do. What's with the interest, anyway? Last time I came to this time, you weren't really interested in my former life? What changed now?"

"I'm sorry, Crane," she replied, her expression unclear. "If you don't want to talk about it..."

"Not a question of don't, it's a matter of can't," he insisted, the walls suddenly coming up again. "If I tell you, it's going to ruin the surprise. Just know that if I could, I would. But, it's very important that I keep the secret."

"Fine then," she replied, allowing his hand to creep across hers. "If it's nothing that we need to know, then..."

Erupting out through the night, the two of them heard screams. Screams followed by mechanical roars, sounds that were almost recognisable for the frequency of which that they had been occurring lately

"That sounds familiar," Crane remarked, a sigh of regret in his voice. "Something I haven't heard for a while."

"Dogbots," Paige answered, already moving in the direction of the screams. "You still remember how to fight I take it?"

"You could say that I've had plenty of practice lately."

* * *

Five minutes passed. Five soon became ten, ten became fifteen, and neither Duo had returned or the lights had come on.

"Brilliant!" Nahir muttered, flicking one of the torches on. "You think he's coming back? At all?"

"Probably not," Luke replied, sarcastically. "The thing that got Xavier probably got him."

Even as he finished speaking, it took him a few seconds to register all the looks of disbelief that he was getting from the other three rangers.

"What?"

* * *

"So, this is the fantastic plan?" Ryan asked, looking down at the torch in his hand, the weak beam flashing out across to the rest of the remaining rangers. "We wander out with torches into the night and try to happen across the thing that did for Xavier and Duo? All in the middle of a huge forest with virtually a million places for the thing to come across us."

"Keep your eyes open?" Luke suggested, shrugging his shoulders in dismissive fashion. "At the sound of any snapping twigs or suspicious noises, run in the opposite direction all while screaming wildly in terror."

"Sometimes, I'm sure you've turned sarcasm into an art form," Nahir commented, shaking her head in amusement. "Let's get this done."

"Are you honestly sure that splitting up is the best thing that we could do?" Ryan asked, as the purple and yellow rangers began to head one way, while he and Katie went the other. His question remained unanswered, Katie instead focusing on what was in front of her.

"This has to be one of the worst missions we've ever done," he muttered, following her. "Seriously..."

"I don't know," the red ranger answered. "It could be worse. A lot worse. I think I had a worse task once..."

"Really, want to share?"

"You wouldn't believe me. I should say that you didn't believe me about my sojourn to the future."

"Ah, that again. That bad was it?"

* * *

"See, this hasn't turned out so bad," Nahir said, looking up at the moon high above the two of them, the rays bathing the path in subtle shades of light. "We got a nice walk in the forest in the moonlight..."

"What about that thing that's out there somewhere," Luke retorted. "That's a nice little addition to things, isn't it? Romantic semi date, complete with possible psychopath stalking you through the trees."

"You're considering this a semi date?" she asked. "Seriously?"

"I think it's getting worrying when you can't tell my sarcasm from my seriousness," he replied. "Come on, how long have you known me?"

"Luke, don't turn this into anything else," she insisted. "Since you so eloquently remarked that there was a psychopath in here, for want of a better term, isn't it better to focus on the task at hand?"

That shutting him up, the purple ranger began to increase his walking speed, determined not to get caught up in more idle chatter.

"It is sweet of you to even consider it," she said, across at him. "Guess you're not completely without romantic feelings. Contrary to popular opinion."

"That's not what you said before. At all," he answered, trying his best to look hurt by the insinuation. "I'm really hurt now..."

"Oh, get over it," she said, quickly. "Stop trying to make me feel guilty."

"Is it working?" the purple ranger asked, a manic grin on his face as the two of them found themselves making their way towards a gap in the trees, the outline of the lake up ahead of them.

"Definitely," she groaned, letting her head drop. "Really, it is."

Suppressing a laugh, Luke carried on walking, weaving his way through the trees to get to the edge of the lake.

"There, there," he replied, looking around to her as the two of them reached the water's edge. "The largest lake in Verger. It's a pretty obsolete title, since most of the competition is basically a collection of large puddles."

"I do know that," she replied, quickly. "I did grow up in this region, you know!"  
"Yeah, I forgot," the purple ranger answered, both of them looking down at their reflections in the water. "Sorry about that."

"Hey," she said, letting her hand snake across empty space to meet his. "Not a problem. Know you can only cram so much in that tiny little brain of yours."

Before he could admonish her for the comment, Nahir stiffened, her body hardening like a plank of wood. Then he saw it, the reflection in the water of the figure behind them.

Seconds later, he felt himself being scooped up off the ground, a jarring pain shot through his skull before he blacked out...

* * *

"Look at that!" Crane yelled, running over to kick a Dogbot into the air with a single blow, the leg of the robot quickly shattering under his strike. "Exactly how I remember them."  
Even after reaching through the chest of the Dogbot in front of her to rip several vital cables out of position, Paige turned to see him twist the head off the already damaged Dogbot, a little shocked by the display of strength that he was showing.

"Really?" she asked, before turning incorporeal to resist a physical blow thrown at her face from behind her. "Since when..."

The white ranger spun on the spot, turning to kick the attacking Dogbot in the face, her strike throwing the machine to the ground where it began to crackle in disrepair from the damage.

"... Could you do that?" she finished, watching him down another Dogbot with relatively little trouble. "That's..."

"Long story," he replied, stepping backwards to bring his elbow into the face of another one of the robotic creation. "Short version, I got better, faster, stronger."

* * *

Moving through the woods, both Katie and Ryan were still walking in relative silence. Other than a pair of massacred Ponyta, they hadn't really found anything of note.

"Maybe we're going the wrong way," the green ranger muttered. "Maybe whatever the thing is we're hunting is already after Luke and Nahir. Maybe he's following us, maybe he's using the tree's to do it in silence. Maybe..."

"Maybe if I'd been born a guy, I'd have been contributing to the seemingly endless rank of male red rangers!" Katie snapped, angrily rounding on him. "Maybe we're just hallucinating. I don't know."

After that little outburst, she seemed to calm, taking deep breaths, much to the surprise of Ryan.

"Something on your mind?" he asked. "Because... That was a bit harsh."

"Sorry," she apologised, still taking heavy breaths to try and regain some composure. "That was unfair on you. You didn't deserve it, you're only trying to be helpful. Just... Sorry. I'm really worried about the others."

"Duo?"

"All of them," she clarified, quickly making her point. "If they're in danger, it means that I failed as a leader. And..."

"But especially Duo," the green ranger continued, pressing her on the subject. "Right?"

"If there's something that you're trying to say," Katie remarked, giving him an evil eyed expression. "Then just spit it out."

"You know what I'm getting at," he replied, smirking at her. "Anything you want to admit to in the silence of nothing?"

"Nothing that comes to mind," she answered, still giving him a strange look. "But, go on and enlighten me. What do you think is going on?"

"There's that thing between you and Duo," the green ranger replied, smugly. "That thing that you can cut with a knife."

Before she could reply, the two of them heard a scream, the voice sounding eerily familiar. It was almost like it was...

"Xavier?" Katie asked, taking a step forward to try and get a better realisation of where the sound was coming from. "Where's that...?"

Not hesitating, her curiosity got the better of her, the red ranger began to run off the trail into the trees. Much to the shock of Ryan, as he hadn't expected her to do such a moronic thing in the middle of a tense situation.

"Where are you going!" he yelled, making to follow her, desperate to catch up with her. "Katie! This is insane! Come on back here!"

As she leaped over a fallen tree up ahead, he heard a yelp from his friend as she vanished out of sight. Increasing his running speed, he made his way around the fallen trunk of the large tree...

... And discovered that she'd vanished completely from view. The deep footprints where she had landed after hurdling the tree were the only signs that she had ever been there. Taking a deep breath, trying to regain some composure after the vanishing act that she had been subject to, the green ranger began to look around for any sign of a clue.

With nothing instantly leaping out at him, he began to turn to leave. And that was when he heard it. The rustling in the bushes, roughly moving away in the direction of the cabin that the six of them had started off the night in.

"Okay, this is it," he said, to himself, clenching his fist in anger. "I've just about had enough of this. It ends now!"

* * *

Making a step towards the cabin, Ryan saw the outline of a figure up ahead. Somehow, the lights had come back on, the rays emerging through the windows enough to make the figure seem even larger. Rushing forward, the full visage of what he had to be hunting came into sight, the smell hitting him sooner. It almost was reminiscent of rotten Magikarp, the scent somehow fitting with the figure. He wore filthy clothes, a brown jacket soaked with mud and rain, a pair of grey pants and a torn sweater. His face couldn't be seen, blocked by a mask similar to that of the Shelder upon the Slowbro's tail, while he had a huge pair of machete's at his waist.

"Guess you're not so secretive after all," he remarked, walking into view. "Where are my friends?"

Instead of responding, he was met with silence, as the being continued to watch him with interest, an almost eerie silence emanating from him.

"Oh, they're alive," the being finally said, folding his arms. "For now."

"Who are you, and what do you want?" the green ranger demanded, reaching down to his morpher. "Other than being a Dark Spectre. That I know."

"Reviver," the Dark Spectre replied, a laugh on his face, the sound coming through the crack in the Shelder mask. "This isn't my time, but I'm enjoying it. Before the Prison Dimension... I was a serial killer. Yes, I was. I was the greatest one that the galaxy ever saw."

"Good for you," Ryan retorted. "Where are my friends?"

"I wasn't just a regular serial killer though," Reviver continued, ignoring him. "I was a serial killer with a difference."

"Your parents must be so proud," the green ranger shot back. "Go on, I'll humour you."

"I travelled around. To places with local legends of those that had died horrible deaths. I took revenge for them. Just as I do here."

"The boy that drowned in the lake?"

"His name was Jason," the Dark Spectre laughed. "And today is his birthday."

Taking a step back, Ryan quickly wondered the best way to fight the thing. It appeared that it had a corporeal form, meaning that summoning the Cress Crystal wasn't an option. If he morphed... Well, he might have to in order to take it on. But, there was one thing left... One thing that he could try and utilise in hope for the best.

"Before you do attack," he said, quickly holding his hands up. "There is one thing that I need to tell you. We're in a forest. Great natural environment."

"What's your point?" Reviver demanded, levelling both machete's at him. "Get to it. Then we can..."

Dropping to his knees, Ryan activated his natural Genesis ability. Although he hadn't gotten much use out of it, he was actually relieved to have it behind him at this moment in time. And, as he slammed his fist into the ground, huge vines erupted out of it to wrap around Reviver's arms, completely snaring him. Twisting his hand, the vines mimicked the action, dragging Reviver down to the ground before hurling him back against a tree.

"Hmmm..." the Dark Spectre muttered, getting to his feet. "That's interesting. Really interesting. What sort of power is that? You got any other tricks up your sleeve?"

"Just one," he shot back, bringing his morpher up, ready to activate. "And, it's a good one. Genesis Overload!"

Morphing into his ranger suit, the green ranger took up a fighting stance, ready to carry on the fight.

Instead of retaliating, Reviver turned to run, much to Ryan's surprise. Of all the things that could have happened, this hadn't been one that he was expecting to happen.

"Hey! Get back here!"

* * *

Compared to his previous acts of fleeing the scene of an attack, Ryan thought that something was out of order, it somehow different than before. When he had taken Xavier and Katie, Reviver had managed to get away from the scene impossibly fast. Now that he was chasing him away through the trees, he seemed somehow slower.

All of this went through his head as he ran through the trees, the sight of the Dark Spectre far in the distance. Every time he lost track of the figure ahead of him, he would reappear for a few seconds to allow him to pick up the trail.

The other thing that was sneaking through his head was that this was a trap. That Reviver was luring him into an unholy mess, something that would spell the possible end of the Poké Rangers.

That was when he saw the cave up ahead, the movement of Reviver flitting away into the darkness beyond the entrance.

"Just know that I'm going to regret this," he muttered, charging towards the entrance of the tunnel. "It's not going to end well."

* * *

Racing through the darkness, knowing that his enemy could appear out of the black at any point, the green ranger just wanted to keep on moving. Far in the distance, he swore that he could hear voices, sounds that were vaguely familiar...

"Hello!" he shouted, trying to make himself heard across the distance. Even though he had no idea how far they were. And then, he heard the response.

"Ryan!" Xavier yelled, the voice of the blue ranger directing him through the dark of the tunnel. In the distance, he could still see Reviver, the being leading him towards his comrades. "Come on, man!"

"Hurry!" another voice screamed. That one was Nahir, the yellow ranger sounding incredibly worried. "He's back!"

"I know!" the green ranger shouted, bringing out his Genesis Blaster. "Don't worry, I'll give him a kicking."

Carrying on his run, he made his way into the chamber where Reviver had lead him. As he charged in, the immediate sight of the other rangers, secured to the ground with ropes fashioned out of a strange energy caught his vision. Unfortunately, that momentary distraction was enough for Reviver to charge him from behind, the blow taking him by surprise. As the blaster dropped to the floor and skidded away from him, leaving him unarmed. Desperately trying to recover, he was halfway to his feet when Reviver hit him again, the body check hurling him across the room. Jumping up again, he threw a kick at Reviver, the big figure barely staggered by the weakened blow. Not giving up, Ryan attacked again, tackling the masked figure to the ground before punching him in the face. Grunting in pain from the attack, Reviver managed to throw him off him, the green ranger landing on the dirt floor of the cavern from the attack.

"You're no match for the Legend of Slowpoke Forest," the figure taunted. "I'll destroy you slowly. And then your friends. Nobody screws with..."

"There's just one thing," Ryan groaned, climbing to his feet. "You're not the Legend of Slowpoke Forest. You're an irritating pest from the future, and you're not wanted here."

"Well, what are you going to do about it?" Reviver retorted, folding his arms in amusement as his opponent took up a fighting stance. "Burst into tears?"

"This!" the green ranger shot back, holding out his arms. "Toxic Armour!"

At his order, the new armour that Bill had fashioned from the remains of the Cobra Rangers began to cover his body. The silver helmet was combined with the Cobra helmet, giving it a slight Arbok appearance, while the arms became covered in a silver armour, large blades emerging out from the gauntlets while spikes erupted across the knuckles. Finally, more armour appeared upon the legs, while more spikes emerged across the side and tip of the boots.

"Go on, Ryan!" Duo shouted, all five of the trapped rangers struggling to escape from where they were secured with the strange ropes. "Kick his ass!"

Throwing himself across the small chamber, the green ranger hit Reviver with a kick, the poison tipped boots raking across his stomach. Not letting up, Ryan grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and tossed him to the ground, before the blades on his forearms began to glow with a bright purple energy.

"Toxic Slash!" he roared, leaping into attack with a pair of powerful slashes, each threatening to overcome the Dark Spectre. Instead of exploding, he shot backwards as if fired from a cannon, completely exiting the cavern. And, as he left, the ropes securing the five captive rangers vanished from view, allowing them to sit up.

"So, what took you so long?" Duo wondered, getting to his feet. "Stopped for a shower?"

"Might as well have done," he replied. "There's only so much that I can do. I would have been here sooner, but I thought I'd let you guys simmer."

"Not the time, guys," Katie replied. "Think we've still got to take care of a certain little pest."

* * *

As the six of them, all morphed into their ranger costumes, ran out of the cave, they were immediately greeted with the sight of the giant Reviver rising above the trees to glare down at them, the anger emanating from every fibre of his being.

"If nothing else," Ryan said, shrugging his shoulders. "I think it's time to crank out the heavy artillery."

"Get back, get even," Katie remarked, folding her arms. "Silent Strike Megazord!"

At the command, they transformed into six balls of coloured energy, energy that quickly raced up to form into the shape of a giant figure. The black and blue balls of energy created by Duo and Xavier moved to form the legs, the red energy formed by Katie was the chest, the green coloured energy that Ryan had become formed the head, while Luke and Nahir's purple and yellow energy became the arms. Solidifying out, the legs became coiled Arboks, the chest became a bright red Arbok's face, the arms became like the upper body of an Arbok, the open jaws becoming hands, while the green energy became a green generic head, with a band covered in six colours across it.

Violently laughing, Reviver began to make his way across towards the Megazord, both machete's up in his hands, ready to be used on his enemies.

"He wastes no time, huh?" Luke asked, one of the huge metal blades coming down into the chest of the Silent Strike Megazord, leaving a huge cut across the surface.

"Think it's time for some retaliation," Duo remarked, hitting a button in front of him. "Acid!"

At once, the giant machine responded to the command, the arms coming up to fire out a blast of corrosive liquid across the Dark Spectre, something that really didn't go down well with the monster, as he began to charge forward to attack again in retaliation.

"Tail Strikes!" Katie yelled, hoping to stop him before the out of control monster got out of hand. Immediately yanking the giant robot into action, the six rangers saw the arms whip out and strike several times against their enemy, the sharp blows leaving massive cuts and wounds in the body that the Dark Spectre had taken.

"This is getting old, real fast," Ryan replied, seeing the foe on the ropes. "Serpent Sabre!"

Not wasting any time, the giant sword appeared in the hands of the Megazord, immediately being brought up to clash with the two machete's that Reviver was trying to attack with. Unleashing all the power that it could, the Silent Strike Megazord managed to force the two weapons away, leaving a clear strike at Reviver.

"You're going to need a Revive when we're done with you," the green ranger quipped. "Toxic Slash!"

At the order, the sword began to glow with a bright purple energy, the blade dripping with pure poison.

"Let's hope that nothing revives him," Nahir said. Seconds before the giant sword came up, sweeping across Reviver several times before downing him. As he exploded into thousands of pieces, the Silent Strike Megazord took a victory stance.

* * *

"At least it ended well," Nahir said, closing the door to the outside world behind her, before moving to an empty seat. Along with Bill and Lance, Crane and Paige were already on the bridge, all looking over at the six rangers in anticipation of more of the story. A story that was already set to be told as Katie walked over to put the Cress Crystal back down where it belonged.

"As nights go," Xavier remarked, still a little uncomfortable with what had happened earlier. "It's not been a great one."

"Should have given me a call," Crane commented. "Could have given you some help. Those that take corporeal forms are the best to fight."

"Not really," Luke retorted, leaning back on his stool. "The best ones to fight are those that you can get with the Cress Crystal before too much crazy chaos goes down."

"The spectral form?" Crane asked. "Really? Are you sure about that? That's really the only point when the Cress Crystal works. It's not the most reliable thing out there."

"You're wrong there," Duo said. "When we were at the golf club yesterday, we managed to defeat one of the Dark Spectres with the crystal. And, it was in a host body..."

"What sort of host body?" Crane asked, his interest raised slightly. "One resembling its true form, or one that it was just taking control of?"

At his question, all eyes on the bridge went to both Luke and Duo. And, as it happened, neither of the two rangers had an answer.

"It's all complicated," Crane continued. "When they're in a host body that is close to their original form, they're a lot harder to beat. They can possess sentient beings, but it doesn't make them the strongest they'll ever be."

"Go on then, Crane," Katie said, looking over at him. "Tell us how it comes about that you know so much about these things."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Paige muttered, slightly bitterly. "I've been trying to get the full story all night."

"It's not something that I can reveal," the former red ranger replied, quickly. "It's just... Not. If I do, it compromises everything. Things have to go a certain way, otherwise it's all wrong."

"Come on, man," Duo said, rolling his eyes at his former team mate. "Play the game. Forget what you can't tell us, focus on what you can."

"I came back to this time to ensure that the Dark Spectres ended up back where they belong," Crane answered, before bringing his gauntlet up. "I used this to do it. The Solaris Gauntlet. It's a one way trip, I'm back for the long haul. Back where I was before I came here... It was a calling that was linked with these creatures. When we discovered that the Prison Dimension had been breached, I volunteered to come back here and check on the situation."

"Any particular reason?" Paige asked, unable to resist asking the question, a cheeky smirk flashed across her face as she did so.

"I think we all know why," he said, returning her smirk with a smile.

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Hmmm...**

**Sort of a mixed bag. Bit like the series as a whole really. We've got the horror on the one hand, the thing between Crane and Paige on the other.**

**What is Crane doing his best to keep secret? All will be revealed in time.**

**Also, new credits. Slightly.**

**Another Dark Spectre bites the dust.**

**Anyway, on them, that particular arc will be over after the next two parter. Actually, the next one is entitled Doomsday: Rangers Of Syodia: Part One. Preview below, up at some point.**

**Not really a whole lot more I can think to say here... Other than I give no prizes for guessing where the inspiration for this chapter came from.**

**So, thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Please. Ryan is replying to this chapter.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Thirty Nine, Doomsday: Rangers Of Syodia: Part One, preview.**

**Lance: There's something in the sky.**

**Duo: You telling me you believe in UFO's?**

**Crane: It's not so unfeasible.**

**?: Greetings, Rangers of Earth.**

**Katie: I'm having flashbacks to last year.**

**?: We have come to investigate the Dark Spectre outbreak on Earth.**

**Luke: The cavalry's here? Better late than never.**

**?: There was the spirit of a Syodian in there. And I think it's found a host.**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	39. Doomsday: Rangers Of Syodia: Part One

Chapter Thirty Nine. Doomsday: Rangers Of Syodia: Part One.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers SDI and Genesis Overload..._

_When a mutant Deoxys fell to Earth, the SDI Rangers teamed up with the Space Rangers to go to the planet Syodia in an attempt to see where the thing had come from. That was where they met Absalon, the leader of the Syodians. Before too long had passed, both sets of rangers defeated a revived Machdrap and his army of Scorpio Syodians, before going back to Earth. Meanwhile, much later, Dennis and Arbok unwittingly punched a hole in reality which set loose several Dark Spectres on the world. Offering aide from the future, Crane Edwards returned to the present to help out, despite his help not being wanted as the original six rangers went to the Slowpoke Forest to hunt down a Dark Spectre. Despite trouble, Ryan managed to rescue his friends from Reviver's clutches and save the day..._

_

* * *

_

"So, what's the big surprise?"

The question came from Nahir, as both she and Paige found themselves waiting outside the bathroom. However, it was directed at the occupant, Katie currently on the other side of the door where they couldn't see her.

"It's not so much a surprise," the red ranger replied, raising her voice to be heard. "Just a case of something that I want your opinion on."

"New clothes?" Paige asked, moving over to lean against the wall, before a smirk passed across her face. "So, if it's not a surprise, you wouldn't mind if I stuck my head through the wall...?"

"Yeah, don't do that," Katie called, quickly. "I'm in the middle of something, I'm nearly done..."

From where they were stood, the two rangers heard the lock turn, saw the door open...

"And, voila!"

... Katie walked out of the room, having dyed her hair silver, much to their surprise.

"What do you think?" she asked, focusing heavily on the two of them to try and gauge their reaction. "Too much, or too little?"

"Got to say," Paige remarked, quickly. "You're the hottest silver haired girl I've ever seen. Although, you're the first silver haired girl I've ever seen, so..."

"Why?" Nahir asked, still trying to digest the new appearance from her friend. "Why did you choose that colour?"

"Fancied something radically different," Katie answered. "Plus, now all the black's out of my hair after that time I had to go undercover... Thought I'd go as far away from black as possible."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. Crane appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefacts. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Dark Spectres hover above Coppinger mutant monsters._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord, North Wind Megazord and Silent Strike Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

"Victory!" Xavier yelled, dropping the controller and sinking off the couch to his knees in elation. "I am the king!"

"King of the Shadow World more like," Luke muttered, grumpily. "Seriously, you're lucky I only play video games in competition, rather than for fun. Otherwise, I'd trounce you."

"I didn't know that you did play," Ryan commented, looking over at the purple ranger. "Seriously?"

"No, I'm messing with you," he replied, his tone confusing Ryan even more, the green ranger not able to tell if he was being sarcastic or not. As he vocalised his bemusement, Luke instead got up and walked out, a shady smirk on his face at the pride over the confusing aura that he had given off.

"What's that all about?" Ryan wondered, looking down at where Xavier was still worshipping himself, the blue ranger having knelt in front of a mirror and bringing his arms up and down. "Can you not do that?"

"Why, I think I deserve some of the acclaim that I'm awarding down on myself," Xavier answered, turning around to grin manically at him. "You not agree?"

* * *

"Seriously though, why the new hair colour?"

"Why not," the red ranger replied, breezily. "New colouring, new outlook on life. And, I've got to tell you, that new perspective is fabulous."

"What's it look like?" Nahir wondered, curiously looking back up at it with interest.

"Fabulous, that's what I said, right?" Katie answered, walking out onto the bridge where Bill, Lance and Luke were all sat looking at the trophy that had been won by Luke and Duo a few days ago, the scanning equipment in full across the item to try and unlock the secrets of what it could probe and eke out from the darkest crevices. "Although, this fills me with a foreboding sense of unease."

"We're working on it," Lance protested, glancing around at the three female rangers, before suppressing a smirk at the sight of Katie's hair. "But... Yeah..."

"Something amusing you, Lance?" Luke asked, turning around to see what had brought the reaction out from the Dragon Master, only to get a full view of it. "Woah, what happened to you? Looks like someone chucked one of those metallic pom-poms at your head."

"Hey!" the red ranger protested, quickly throwing him a dirty look. "Is that really called for?"

"Sad, but accurate," the purple ranger snickered, before finally wilting under the intense look of anger that had been slowly simmering away with her. "Accurately nice... You know, I quite like the pom-pom on head look. Please don't burn me!"

"There's nothing wrong with silver hair," Bill remarked, sagely trying to restore the peace in the large room. "Some of the great trainers have silver hair. It looks distinguished... And, on the few women I've seen with it, it's quite a sexy look as well."

"Watch it," Lance said, glancing at the PokéManiac with a cross-eyed expression on his sharp features, something untold hanging between the two of them. "My cousin sort of has silver hair."  
"How is she?" Bill replied, quickly, the smirk rising up. "Is this the one who lives in Blackthorn City?"

"Blackthorn City?"

The question came from Duo, he and Ryan coming out onto the bridge to see what was going on. As he walked into the room proper, the black ranger spotted the new silver hair, but opted not to comment on it. The indifference something that annoyed her slightly, something that she had been banking on to get a comment from him.

"I love Blackthorn City," the black ranger continued, a grin on his face. "Seriously, a lot. One day, when I'm retired as a ranger and possibly as a wandering trainer, I wouldn't mind ending up as the gym leader in that place."

"Well, I can't see that happening anytime soon," Lance remarked, giving Duo a strange look. "Clair is going to be in charge there for quite a while. She's not going anywhere any time soon."

"I believe I said one day, and not tomorrow," the black ranger shot back. "So... What have we got on? Anything interesting?"

"Yeah, I could actually use some help," Bill replied, getting up from his seat to look around the room. "I need a couple of you to head over to the mainland and grab something for me. I keep a storage locker in a warehouse in Waterfall Shores, there's something I want to try with this trophy."

"I could use some of that ocean air," Katie commented, stretching up her arms to alleviate some tension within them. "I'll go?"

"Hey, I'll come too," Duo offered, raising a hand up to volunteer his services. "If nothing else, it'll get me out of this mad house for a bit."

"All right then," the PokéManiac said, smiling at the two of them. "Good to have volunteers."

* * *

As the two rangers walked off the bridge, leaving their colleagues and team mates behind them, Ryan immediately spoke up as the the door slammed shut in mirth.

"You never know," he remarked, glancing around the room. "That Blackthorn dream could happen. Who are you to say that it won't?"

* * *

"Man, that was an easy task," Duo remarked, as he and Katie found themselves making their way down the pier towards a concealed space where they could summon their Hover Chasers again and make the return to the Silver Gyarados. The package that Bill had sent them to retrieve was under his arm, it having been easy to find for the two of them. "Whatever it is..."

"Can you guess by shaking it?" she wondered, looking down at it in his hands. Reaching over, she placed her fingers around it, trying to get a grip of what was hiding inside it. In that action, she accidentally brushed her fellow ranger's fingers, a sharp rip of metaphorical electricity passing through her skin as she did so. Something that Duo also apparently felt, judging by the wide eyed reaction that flitted across his face for a second.

"You know," he replied, softly gazing down at her. "Didn't want to call it earlier, but I do like the new look. Silver sort of suits you. Brings out your eyes."

"My eyes aren't silver," she quickly said, before bringing her hands up to her face. "Wait, are they?"

"Yeah, it was a dumb thing to say," the black ranger muttered, holding his hands up to admit his error. "Sort of slipped out."

"Not too far I hope," she quipped, allowing her hand to slip further across his, the warmth being shared by the two of them in the cold of night. "But, thanks. I appreciate it. A lot. It's nice to know that someone likes it."

"Oh, I find that hard to believe," Duo replied, an inane grin on his face, something that she found a little disconcerting. "Who did that?"

"Nahir, Paige, Luke, Lance..."

"All of who don't have silver hair. It's probably jealousy. Besides, none of them would look any where near as good with that colour hair as you."

"I might have silver hair, you've got a silver tongue," she remarked, her smile growing wider by the second. "Or, has that been said before?"

"Probably, but I never get tired of hearing it," the black ranger quipped, before glancing up towards the night sky, a shocked expression suddenly shooting across his face. "What the hell is that?"

Spinning around on the spot to try and find what he had seen, Katie immediately saw it. Something large in the sky, the flames emerging from the rear of it, all of this registering as she realised it was heading straight for Earth.

"Holy crap!"

* * *

Back on the Silver Gyarados...

"There's something in the sky!" Lance yelled, leaping from his chair and frantically gesturing up towards the night sky. "Look!"

"Holy crap, he's right!" Luke exclaimed, dropping back away from the sight up in the air. "That's freaking worrying."

Remaining ever unflappable in the chaos, Bill glanced up at it before walking over to the console and speaking into the microphone directed to the communication systems of the ship.

"Can everyone please report to the bridge, please," he asked, pleasantly. "We have a situation."

As he went to sit back down again, he quickly became aware of the look that both Luke and Lance were giving him, surprised by it.

"What?" he asked, softly raising an eyebrow in surprise. "Can't I remain calm under pressure?"

* * *

"Well, that's an interesting colour."

The comment came from Crane, as he and the five other rangers belonging to the Genesis Overload team made their way across the field to hook up with Katie and Duo. His comment having being directed in regards of the red ranger's hair. "Really, it is."

"At least it's not the worst thing I've heard," she sighed, looking around to the rest of the rangers. "Anyone else want to have a pop?"

"Nah, I just want to get back to the boat in the warmth," Xavier replied, quickly. "So, let's hit this UFO, find out whether it wants to harm us or not and get back."

"You telling me you believe in UFO's?" Duo asked, looking around the group in surprise. "Seriously, all of you?"

"It's not so unfeasible," Crane replied, shrugging his shoulders. "It's a big old galaxy. Really, you can't imagine how big."

"And you can?" Xavier wondered, looking over at the former red ranger. "Seriously, can you?"

"Anyway," Nahir interrupted, giving the three of them strange looks. "We already know that there is intelligent life in the galaxy. Remember that mission with the Space Rangers."

Even as she spoke, Duo, Paige and Crane all looked perplexed by the comment, their experiences having been different to those which the former SDI Rangers held.

"Chimzor unleashing a toxin onto the Elite Four of Hoenn?" the black ranger wondered. "Is that what you're getting at?"

"Not even in the slightest," Katie answered, quickly. "That's not what I was thinking of."

* * *

That was when they saw it. Whatever it was, it shouldn't have been here. Not here in the forest, not even on Earth. Although it was partly obscured by fog, they could still see the general shape of it, a large crimson shuttle-like object parched in the forest, several trees having been dislodged by the landing arc that had been deployed by the crash-landing.

And, within that fog rising up from the base of the ship, the eight figures saw movement within the mist, something that was enough to get their backs up in worry. It was movement that quickly translated to multiple human-shaped figures, but as they came ever closer, they could see that they weren't quite human.

"Aww, man, I'm having flashbacks to last year," Katie said, as the two figures came out of the fog of the spaceship, revealing themselves to be Deoxys. Unlike the traditional appearance of the Pokémon, they both wore clothes that resembled old style suits of armour, one of the suits being silver, while the other, shorter Deoxys wore red armour across its body.

"Greetings, Rangers of Earth," the taller of the Deoxys remarked, the voice sounding fairly masculine in its timbre. "I presume that is who we are talking to."

"You're being too modest, Zhirko," the slightly shorter Deoxys commented, her voice being more feminine than that of her companions. "You know that full well."

"Anyone else a little bemused?" Nahir wondered, taking a step back. "Because..."

"Of course, you have questions," the female Deoxys said, smiling at them. "That's natural. At least you haven't reacted to our presence badly."

"Some of them are," Zhirko noted, looking at Paige and Duo, both of who looked incredibly freaked out by the appearance of two talking Deoxys. On the other hand, Crane who also hadn't been on the mission to Syodia, didn't really look worried or surprised by the presence of the two alien Pokémon. "However, we wish to inform you that we intend no harm. We have come to investigate the Dark Spectre outbreak on Earth."

"Really?" Crane asked, staring down at the two of them. "Are you sure about that? Because, I was here first."

"Hmmm..." the shorter, female Deoxys remarked, looking him up and down. "Most interesting. Are you hearing what I'm hearing, Zhirko?"

"Not a thing, ma'am," Zhirko answered, still looking at Crane. "And, I agree that that is interesting."

"So..." Luke said, interrupting the conversation, possibly driving them away from the slight look of embarrassment that Crane was wearing. "The cavalry's here? Better late than never."

"Hey!" Crane yelled, rounding on the purple ranger in protest. "Come on, the cavalry was already here."

"Feeling inadequate?" Luke smirked, winking at Crane in glee. "Come on, you're not that impressive. A pair of Deoxys... That's brilliant."

"Makes so much more difference than the last time a Syodian ended up on Earth," Nahir said, quickly, before looking at the two Deoxys with interest. "Do you come in peace?"

"Aha," the female Deoxys remarked, a smirk in her 'voice'. "Human humour. Is it everything that you thought it would be, Zhirko?"

"And more," Zhirko replied, his tone dryer than the Brownsands Desert in the south east corner of Verger, his eyes bemused by what he was picking up from the rangers. "I'm sorry, how rude of us not to introduce ourselves. My name is Zhirko..."

"We caught that," Duo muttered, some of the shock having vanished.

"And that is my superior, Nikitca," Zhirko continued, gesturing to the female at his side. "As we previously said, we are here to investigate the sightings of these Dark Spectres on Earth."

"I'm interested," Ryan interrupted, looking over at the two of them with a confused look. "Does Nikitca not speak for herself, or..."

"It is a custom among our people to have a lower ranked officer relay general information to an unknown potential ally," Nikitca answered, her look bemused as she glanced at him. "As the subordinate here, Zhirko is required to give out all the basic information."

"All right then," the green ranger replied, raising both hands up in apology. "Just wondering about it. It seemed interesting."

"Back onto the regular subject," Katie said, offering a hand to Nikitca in greeting. After examining her for a moment, the Deoxys seemed satisfied with the gesture, before mirroring it and shaking the red ranger's hand. "We're doing pretty well with the Dark Spectre problem. We have a means of dispatching them..."

"Two actually," Crane muttered, glancing down at his golden gauntlet, the weapon having been fully extended out onto his hand.

"... But, if you want to look around and see what sort of a job has been done, we ask that you try not to install too much panic around this place. As a rule, people aren't used to seeing Deoxys wander around in the streets."

"Ah, but of course," Nikitca replied, bowing slightly. "It would much be the same if humans showed up on our planet unannounced. Well, not to that extent, but it would be seen as quite strange. Questions would be asked. You will not know that we are here, while we make our inspection."

"Thank you for that," Katie said, returning the bow before stepping back. "If you find anything that you can't deal with, don't hesitate to let us know."

"We thank you for your cooperation," Zhirko commented, walking over to a tree to examine it. "The beings contained in the Prison Dimension are a threat to the entire galaxy should they break out. We're just showing due diligence."

"When our mission is over, we shall be in touch," Nikitca remarked, the two Syodian's taking flight, their supple forms morphing into one more suitable for speed, before they vanished away through the sky, leaving the eight humans below them alone.

"They seemed nice," Xavier commented. "Huh?"

* * *

"You have all come!"

The voice from the being in the middle of the room had a supernatural feel to it, an almost ethereal edge, something that six beings gathered around it couldn't quite take, it sending a feeling of unease across their spines.

"This is good," the figure spoke, rising up off the plinth to reveal itself as a disembodied Dark Spectre. "Very good, none of you ignored my call."

One of the beings that had gathered was Infiltra, the pink skinned Gardevoir who wore a blue cape. It didn't take long for her to bow before the larger than normal Dark Spectre, showing both her respect and deference for the smokey figure.

"We are here to help you achieve your goal," she said, simply. "It is an honour to be in your presence and to be offered the chance of doing this."  
"Where have you been?" the Dark Spectre next to her demanded, stepping closer to the smokey being. He was a Blaziken that was coloured completely in flame red fur all across his body. Even as he spoke, several different parts regularly burst into flames, the heat uncomfortable for the two around him.

"Ignizi," the huge Dark Spectre said, softly. "Unlike all of you, I've been searching for a host body. Yet, that's not possible on this planet. There are none of my people here, and because of the magnetic field of this infernal place, I can't leave to look for them."

"This is why you need us?" another one of the beings asked. He was a dark blue coloured Scizor who wore a grey impact vest, while wearing a cannon on one hand, and carried an energy sword across his back. "Right?"

"Stzor, my friend," the Darkrai-like creature trilled, moving around to look at him. "You can see right through me."

"He can when you're not in a host," another one of the beings commented, this one being a creature that had a black Weezing head atop a Lucario body with a black cape and huge metal claws. "We all can."

"Still have that wit I see, Hazario," another one of the Dark Spectres remarked from across the room. This one was a white human sized Uxie with gold, pink and blue hair, who also wore a long black coat.

"But of course, and you're still as lovely as ever, Urie," Hazario laughed. "Even after all that time in hell."

"What is it that you need us for?" the final Dark Spectre asked, looking at the being on the plinth in the middle of the room. He was a black, white and brown coloured Farfetch'd, the size of a human. Instead of wings, he had hands which carried a pair of huge swords within them, along with a huge metal beak across his face and a pair of glasses. "Why do you need the six most dangerous criminals to be confined to the Prison Dimension?"

"Why indeed, Canerd?" the smoke-covered being in the middle replied, a cryptic smirk in his voice. "You're going to help me gain a new host body. They ripped mine apart before hurling me in here, hence the reason I became a Spectre. It wasn't out of choice."

"If you can't get off planet to hunt down a host, then how are we going to be of any use?" Urie wondered, a little surprised. "Because..."

"Because, my dear Urie, a pair of applicable host bodies have just arrived on this forsaken rock," the spirit replied, with a laugh. "Get me one of them and you shall have unending rewards."

* * *

"Memories of Syodia, huh?" Luke commented, looking across the room with a smirk. "Remember those?"

_"Presenting from Earth!" the Syodian guards said, escorting the twelve of them and the block of ice into the throne room, a large chamber made out of diamonds. Even the throne itself was made out of diamonds, a bigger than normal Syodian sat upon it wearing a crown made out of diamonds. "Twelve messengers and what would appear to be..."_

_"What is that thing doing in here?" the Syodian leader demanded, looking at the block of ice containing the strangely coloured Syodian._

_"We never sent a message to Earth," the Syodian leader continued, looking surprised. "We have no interest in your planet. If one of our many found its way to your planet, we would not come to you to get them back. It would be to that collective to find its way back here of their own accord."_

_"So, who sent the message saying that they were going to blow up Earth then?" Luke wondered._

_"We do not know!" the Syodian leader replied. "Nor, do we care. That creature is not one of ours. As a Syodian, it is only a pale impersonation. Something corrupted by a source that we have not yet been able to determine yet. Vicious, violent and soulless. We have no need for it."_

_"Wait a second!" Felix exclaimed. "Your planet sent a message to Earth, saying that if we didn't bring that Syodian back here, you'd destroy us."_

_"It wasn't us," the Syodian leader replied. "I, Absalon, heir to the chair of Syodia declare it upon the life and soul of our planets distant future. We do not have a problem with your planet. We're not going to wipe it out of existence over something as trivial as that."  
"I have no idea what he just said," Luke muttered. "But it sounded sincere."_

_"He's swearing it on his planets future," Ray offered. "Sounds sincere."_

"How are we likely to forget that any time soon?" Katie asked, rhetorically. "Come on, Luke. That was one heck of an experience, I wouldn't want to forget it."

"Can't that I missed that," Duo commented, shaking his head. "That sounded a right laugh. You know who I blame? Miranda, for making those gold ranger powers too powerful for me to take."

"So you missed out on a once in a lifetime opportunity," Luke said, nonchalantly. "It wasn't that great... Actually, that's a lie. It was awesome."

"It's no great loss, Duo," Crane offered. "One day, you'll see the galaxy in all its glory. And it won't be limited to just a crappy little Syodian outpost."

"Hon, if you don't want us to ask questions," Paige said, raising an eyebrow at him in bemused surprise. "Then don't make cryptic statements, it's really confusing."

* * *

"What do you find most strange about this planet?" Zhirko wondered, as he and Nikitca made their way across the banks of grass, each of them looking around in awe at the incredible views. What they had seen on the way down in their space ship really hadn't done the scenery of the planet justice, the beautiful sights were almost too much for them to comprehend in contrast to the memories of the slightly drab atmospheres of the Syodian home world.

"It's so loud," she replied, going back to his original question. "Even out here... You can hear the thoughts of the humans. They're loud, it's different to our home where everyone manages to close their mind out. We can't hear the thoughts of our peers."

"Now that we're alone," Zhirko said, glancing down to the lake below with interest, the sight almost enough to drag him off topic. "Why do you think that we couldn't read his thoughts?"

"Who?" Nikitca wondered, her gaze focused on a pair of humans that she quickly realised were known as Hiker's down below the two of them. Even from the relatively far distance, she could hear their thoughts clearly.

"The one that the others know as Crane," Zhirko continued, folding his arms. "Those rangers don't take the trouble to hide their thoughts, probably because there aren't a huge amount of telepaths on this planet. If any. Yet, he can. And he does. What does that tell you?"

"Well, since we can't read his thoughts, then it's not something that we're going to just happen across," Nikitca replied. "He keeps his mind closed like a Syodian. Yet, as far as I know, we've never divulged that secret to a human."

"Not yet, anyway," Zhirko remarked, a smirk on his face. "Hey, maybe he's from the future."

"Don't be ridiculous," Nikitca answered, immediately moving to chastise him. "That is most ridiculous. Even if it was feasible, it's not possible."

"Again, not yet," Zhirko grinned. Seconds before the grass ahead of the pair began to rustle, the sound putting them both on edge. "What was that?"

"There is a lot of wind on this planet," Nikitca rationalised, glancing around to try and judge where the noise had come from. "But, none here. There aren't any humans watching us, if they were then..."

Completely interrupting her, Infiltra leaped up out from where she had been hiding before streaking across the grass at a speed that the average human wouldn't have been able to comprehend. The average Deoxys could though, Nikitca barely managed to switch into her Defense Forme before being hit with the body blow. Not letting up, Infiltra continued on with her attack, trying to separate her from her compatriot.

As he looked around, ready to go and help Nikitca out against the speedy foe, Zhirko felt a presence around behind him...

... And Stzor's energy blast from the cannon on his arm sent him bouncing up into the air, completely away from Nikitca. Even as Zhirko tried to get back up, another pair of twin blasts shot out, keeping him down on the ground. Satisfied for the moment, Stzor reached to his back and brought out his light blue energy sword, moving in for the kill.

Managing to hit out and throw Infiltra back with a Psychic attack, Nikitca tried to move in and help out her fellow Deoxys with the problem that he was facing. Something that proved impossible as she was hit with a powerful blast of fire, the stream of red hot flames scorching her skin and rendering it impossible for her to push on.

Dropping to her knees in pain, she saw Ignizi walking over to join in the fray, Urie stood next to him. Both of them were wearing sarcastic looks of sadistic glee, something that filled her with dread.

"This actually turned out to be quite fun," Urie giggled, wagging her finger at Nikitca. "Aren't you glad that we showed up. At least you weren't bored on this planet."

Behind her, Hazario and Canerd had made to help Stzor out with the problematic Zhirko, the Deoxys having transformed into his own Defensive Forme and was currently repelling their blows with considerable difficulty, the being outnumbered part making it almost impossible for him to fight back.

Laughing in mirth of his own, Ignizi drew Nikitca's attention back to her own predicament, the Blaziken Dark Spectre reaching down to grab her by the throat, his red hot claws digging in.

"You have no idea what you're dealing with," he roared, his powerful voice filled with the outlines of laughter. "We are..."

"... Going to wish you'd stayed in bed this morning!"

Even as Ignizi looked up to see the source of the shout, he was tackled, thrown away from Nikitca by the red clad body of Katie Myers, his flames not really affecting her. Roaring out again, this time in anger, he tried to swipe at her to get her away from him, to little avail as she jumped back away from his proximity, landing next to the grounded Nikitca.

"Thought you could use some help!" the red ranger quipped, kicking the charging Ignizi in the face, the blow hurling him down onto his back in pain. "Were we right?"

"Get Zhirko!" Nikitca howled, floating up to her feet to swipe at Urie with her fist, the Uxie-like creature easily leaped out of the way to evade it while barely flinching. Ever the gallant, Ryan leaped over to try and help her out, attempting to tackle Urie with a body check. With slightly more difficulty, she managed to evade it like she had with Nikitca's attack, before hurling the green ranger back with a telekinetic attack.

Across from them, Duo had gone to attack Canerd, his Shadow Sabre out ready to duel with the sword wielding Farfetch'd creature. Despite the Dark Spectre having the advantage in numbers of swords, Duo was managing to hold his own against the seething Spectre, the being angry for the wounds that had been inflicted upon him with the black ranger's first attack. Meanwhile, Luke and Xavier had gone for Hazario and Stzor respectively, both of them currently in the process of trying to destroy the creatures. Luke had his Psycho Spear out, despite the weapon attacks being blocked by the huge metal claws of Hazario, his efforts were at least wearing the defenses of the thing down.

And, as Nahir followed them into the melee, she heard a laugh before Infiltra was stood next to her in bemusement, an emotion that quickly changed.

"So..." the Dark Spectre laughed, rubbing her hands together in joy at the reunion. "We meet aga..."

Completely cutting her off, Nahir brought out her Storm Staff and whacked it against the Dark Spectre assassin's face as hard as she could, the weapon almost breaking as it struck Infiltra's face, the blow flooring her completely.

Behind them, both Crane and Paige were also entering the action, despite Crane not being morphed at all, only his gauntlet on his arm. Not hesitating, Paige went over to help Ryan with Urie, while Crane went to try and help Zhirko, the wounded Syodian down on the ground unable to help himself.

* * *

Completely unaware that she was there, Ryan was surprised when Paige flashed over in her Ice Ball form and began to devastate Urie's defenses, the reprieve to allow him the chance to rest himself welcomed.

"Thanks," he muttered, before bringing out his Fauna Hammer. "Time for a Frenzy Plant!"

Slamming the weapon into the ground, huge thorny vines erupted out from the shattered earth, racing across to cover Urie completely, their cruel wake intent on impaling her...

... Only for her to teleport out of the way, a sweet grin on her face mocking him and his efforts.

"Hard luck, sweetie," she taunted, before hurling them both back with her telekinetic abilities, the two rangers hitting the ground. Hard.

"Maybe we should have let Luke or Duo fight her," Ryan conceded, groaning in pain.

* * *

Across from them, Luke was having his own problems with Hazario, the Dark Spectre having easily managed to block his blows before knocking him back to the ground. And even as the purple ranger had picked himself up, the being had filled the entire vicinity with smoke, hiding himself from view. Even worse, Bill had quickly informed him that the smoke was possibly poisonous, but had just as quickly offered him a solution to try and counter the possibility of it affecting him.

"Now, you're just starting to annoy me," Luke muttered, throwing out both arms. "Heavy artillery time. Toxic Armour!"

Instantly, the armour began to appear, the silver helmet combining with the Cobra one, giving it a slight Arbok appearance, while the arms became covered in a silver armour, large blades emerging out from the gauntlets while spikes erupted across the knuckles. Finally, more armour appeared upon the legs, while more spikes emerged across the side and tip of the boots.

No sooner had the armour formed across his body, the purple ranger leaped forward into the densest part of the smog, hoping to get lucky. He hadn't been willing to go in there and risk being poisoned before, but with the Toxic Armour offering him an immunity from the stuff...

... And he managed to pull Hazario out of there, the blades on his arm glowing with a bright purple energy as he brought them up to strike.

"Toxic Slash!"

Raking the blades across Hazario's body several times, the Dark Spectre collapsed to his knees in agony, but didn't fall in defeat.

* * *

Meanwhile, Crane had managed to help Zhirko away from the scene of the battle, the Deoxys keeping a firm hold on the former red ranger with his legs unsteady beneath him, not trusting himself to walk alone.

That was when she appeared, streaking across towards the two of them. Before Zhirko could call out a warning, Crane was hit by Infiltra, the assassin easily knocking him down to the ground with little difficulty.

"Look at that," she crowed, moving to stand over Crane. "Long time no see, Officer. How've you been? You're a long way from the last time we met. Tough goodbye was it? Any of them cry when you left? Hope that Dia..."

That was all she said, Crane springing up from his prone position to hit Infiltra with the full force he could muster behind the golden gauntlet, the blow hurling her back through the air where she crashed against a tree before passing out.

"Actually, I don't know," he replied, levelling his gauntlet at her. "Guess you'll have to keep on wondering."

With that comment, a pure powerful beam of golden energy erupted from the metal glove across his hand and hit the Dark Spectre in the chest, something that slowly began to cover her.

That was when Crane turned his head, seeing the smoke of another Spectre descend down on Zhirko. It was in that moment that he realised the whole thing had been a diversion, all for the Dark Spectre behind him to take one of the Syodians.

Gritting his teeth in anger, he yanked the golden rake of the beam off Infiltra and spun to focus it on the creature above Zhirko. Expertly moving to evade the attack, it fired a Shadow Ball at him, the ghost type attack blowing him back off his feet and preventing him from attacking in return. No sooner had he hit the ground had it leaped into Zhirko and taken full control of the Deoxys.

* * *

Whenever he saw it happen, Crane always expected the process to be a little more dramatic. It never was, instead the controlled being just rose up and carried on as if nothing had happened.

At least he did for a moment, before the Spectre-controlled Zhirko hurled out a hand and used the telekinetic abilities to hurl the former red ranger away up into the air. Without even bothering to watch him land, he turned towards the resisting rangers ahead of him, a manic smirk upon the Deoxys features.

"Feels good to be back in control," he remarked, watching the rest of his Dark Spectre kin stagger away out of battle, leaving the rangers alone in the middle of the battlefield. "So good. Just to have an actual voice, rather than the big spooky tone that I normally have."

"Zhirko?" Nikitca asked, looking over at her compatriot. "Tell me that you're in there. At least..."

"Zhirko?" the Dark Spectre replied, mocking her. "Zhirko? The name is Doomsday, little girl. And, you're really up against it now."

"Yeah, like we've never faced a big scary beastie with an ego before," Xavier commented, taking up a quick fighting stance. "You're no different from the rest, we will put you down. Hard!"

"Fighting talk," Doomsday smirked, his limbs charging up with psychic energy as he brought them up to aim at the group of eight. "Little Zhirko... I'm the best thing that's ever happened to him, this is the most power he will ever have."

"Doesn't matter," Paige said, as Crane picked himself up out of the bushes where he had landed and began to join them in the group, making the numbers up to nine. "You're not going to win. You should take a page from the books of the other idiots who have tried."

"Talk is irrelevant," Doomsday retorted, his entire body tensing out, before firing the Psycho Boost he had been charging up. Unlike a normal attack of its type, it was black rather than gold. Reacting faster than any of the humans could, Nikitca raced out to intercept the blow in her Defensive Forme, while at the same time focusing her mind.

The mind that quickly lost as focus as the black Psycho Boost struck her in the stomach, throwing her back. The power behind it had been incredibly strong, too much for her to take. That she realised as she crumpled to the ground, the rangers already preparing to attack.

He's too powerful, she realised, punch drunk with the stress of the attack that she had endured. He'll destroy them, we need to regroup and fast.

Forcing her eyes open, the pain of the sunlight immediately streaming into her blurred vision, she focused on the rangers and Crane below her, before finally managing what she had been intending to do.

Before Doomsday could launch a second attack, all nine figures opposing him vanished completely from view, leaving the Dark Spectre's alone in the field where the battle had taken place.

"You can run," Doomsday smirked, looking at the space where they'd been moments earlier. "But you can't hide. Where are they going?"

"We don't know," Urie replied, quickly. "How would we?"

* * *

"Oof!"

"There was the spirit of a Syodian in there," Nikitca groaned, almost delirious with pain as the nine of them landed on the deck of the Silver Gyarados. "And, I think it's found a host."

"Well," Luke groaned, letting his head sink back to the wooden floor. "We're so screwed right now. Call me when we're dead."

"You humans are so easy to give up when it all looks impossible," Nikitca groaned, a slight sense of disdain in her voice mixed with the pain. "If I wasn't so sure that you were jesting, I would chastise you. Anyway, apart from all that, I have a plan. All is not lost."

That was when she passed out, her head hitting the deck with a thud...

* * *

To Be Continued...

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**A little non-sequitar here information wise, but way back before I planned this out fully, I originally intended for Scott to be the red ranger in this fic. Who, of course, did have silver hair. Is it a little flashback to that with Katie's new hair colour? Probably not, I just picked silver at random.**

**So... Alien Rangers. Who knew they were out there? Apart from the Rara Von. And the Kakunians. And... Actually, I think that's it.**

**Thanks for the reviews. They are all appreciated.**

**The Dark Spectre arc is almost through. It might take a lot of violence, but it will be resolved next chapter.**

**Desperate times. And Crane is getting more cryptic with every appearance. How does Infiltra know him?**

**Errr... The next one will be part two. No idea when it'll be up, but there's a preview below. And also, after the next one, Dennis is likely to reappear again. Seems a while since he showed up. The real version anyway.**

**Okay, thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Please. I think Nikitca is replying for this one.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Forty. Doomsday: Rangers Of Syodia: Part Two, preview.**

**Katie: What's your plan?**

**Nikitca: I do have reinforcements ready, willing and able.**

**?: All is coming together. Our plan is almost complete.**

**?: Garris!**

**?: Elphock!**

**?: Valteria!**

**?: Cerina!**

**?: Herinko!**

**Duo: Let's do this!**

**Nikitca: Syodian power! Ranger form!**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	40. Doomsday: Rangers Of Syodia: Part Two

Chapter Forty. Doomsday: Rangers Of Syodia: Part Two.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers SDI and Genesis Overload..._

_When a mutant Deoxys fell to Earth, the SDI Rangers teamed up with the Space Rangers to go to the planet Syodia in an attempt to see where the thing had come from. That was where they met Absalon, the leader of the Syodians. Before too long had passed, both sets of rangers defeated a revived Machdrap and his army of Scorpio Syodians, before going back to Earth. Meanwhile, much later, Dennis and Arbok unwittingly punched a hole in reality which set loose several Dark Spectres on the world. Later, Katie and Duo spotted a sight from Earth, something entering the atmosphere at a rapid speed, a UFO that was spotted by the Silver Gyarados as well. Upon examining the phenomenon, the Genesis Rangers and Crane discovered a pair of Deoxys, Nikitca and Zhirko, from Syodia who had come to investigate the Dark Spectre arrivals. Leaving the two of them to get on with it, the rangers had to come to the rescue when the two Syodians were attacked by the last seven Dark Spectres, one of which began to possess Zhirko taking control of him. Despite taking a powerful hit, Nikitca managed to get the rangers out of the bad situation and back to their base before passing out..._

_

* * *

_

_"You have a mission. We need the six of you to go to Earth."_

_The voice had come from Absalon, their leader. Her leader, even though he never forced his status upon them. Behind her, the other six Deoxys were all standing to attention, waiting for him to continue on with his orders._

_"What is the nature of the mission, Lord Absalon?" the Deoxys in the blue armour asked, still standing to attention, all professional and down-to-work demeanour._

_"The Prison Dimension has been breached," Absalon answered, slowly. "As you know, we still haven't much of an idea how it works completely, meaning that we must take this opportunity as one to find out what we can."_

_"Sir, we only just got this data now," the Deoxys in the white armour said, softly. "It could have happened weeks ago. I think any chance of studying how it opened up are long gone."_

_"If that is not an option, you should be able to deduce that from space," Absalon said, no emotion in either his face or his voice. "Then go to the planet and find out what you can about the breakouts. This could very well happen again, we should find out everything we can about them, including strengths, weaknesses and the like."_

_"Suppose that makes a certain amount of sense," the yellow armoured Deoxys commented. "Great, we'll get right on it."_

_

* * *

_

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. Crane appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefacts. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Dark Spectres hover above Coppinger mutant monsters._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord, North Wind Megazord and Silent Strike Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

"Holy shitaki!"

That came from Bill as he walked into the medical bay of the Silver Gyarados to see Duo, Crane and Xavier hoisting a large red-armoured Deoxys up onto one of the beds, something that he really hadn't been expecting.

"Is that... What the... Seriously... Come on!"

In those four moments, he went from surprise to confusion to acceptance to ready to offer aid, something that everyone else might have been shocked by had they been paying attention.

"I still say we should put her in a Poké Ball and get her to the closest Pokémon Centre," Paige said, as Luke and Katie came over with the medical supplies, something that they felt that they would need.

"Don't do that," Crane warned, taking a deep breath from the exertion of carrying the alien. "I can help her... I know how. It'd be rude, I can..."

"Do it, then!" Katie said, handing him the medical kit in her hands. "You need anything, give a shout. We'll get out of your way."

* * *

"We did it!"

The shout came from Stzor, as he and the other six Dark Spectres found their way back to the hideout that they had previously used to make their plans, the mood generally jubilant after the victory that they had in battle.

"Yes," Doomsday said, softly. Out of them all, he was the only one who wasn't in the celebratory mood, instead remaining his passive self that had been there before. "We did. But, this is only the start."

"Only the start?" Ignizi asked, a smile growing. "What better feeling is there than this? What else can we possibly do?"

"This is not the time that we came from," Doomsday said, softly. "All of us came from a time far far in the future. I know this from my host's memories, something I have over you all..."

"I knew that," Infiltra grumbled, shaking her head at the attitude he was taking. "Where are you going with this?"

"We build a different future. One that starts with our legacy and grows from there."

* * *

"So..." Paige said, walking into the room and watching the scene in front of her with interest. "This is bound to be an interesting answer, but how do you know so much about the physiology and well-being of Syodians. Deoxys, whatever you want to call them."

"Syodia is the name that they give the planet, Earth currently has another name for it," Crane replied. "Think it's Saffron Epsilon Eight, or something along those lines. Although they are hyper-intelligent and capable of speech, especially in comparison to the Pokémon that you know of in this time, they are only a small part of an ever expanding world."

"You didn't answer my question."

"Didn't I?" he asked, turning to grin at her. "Or did you not let me?"

When she didn't reply this time, he began to continue, still rubbing the ice cold water against Nikitca's wounds, the amount of bedside manner he was displaying surprising the white ranger.

"Where I came from," he continued, his focus more on the wounded Syodian rather than who he was speaking to. "We're on good terms with the people from Syodia. They're good people, and by people I mean aliens. But, you shouldn't judge them. Not in the slightest. When I passed the test to enter my chosen profession, one of the sections was on the physiology of aliens. Never thought I'd have to put it into use."

"Really?"

"Yes."

When he volunteered no further information, she let it drop, instead moving her focus back to the quickly healing Nikitca. "How is she?"

"She's doing well," Crane answered, spreading more frigid water across the burns on her skin. "Her natural healing ability is kicking in, she'll be fine. Once she wakes up, we can take it from there."

"I see," she said, the nagging feeling at the back of her mind something that she was unable to shake away. "Is that really the reason that you know so much about how to help a wounded Deoxys?"

"I've done it before," he answered, softly. "There was a time when... Never mind."

Oh come on! That's what she felt like saying, yet she felt that it wasn't going to get her anywhere. Not when he was in the secretive mood that had taken him, ever since he had returned to this time.

As if to break up the awkward moment, Nikitca opened her eyes up, before letting out a contented sigh.

"That's better," she replied, looking at the two of them. "Although, I could do without the frustrated feelings of anger. It's really disturbing."

It took Paige all of a second to realise that the comment was being directed at her.

* * *

"This is really starting to irritate me!" Luke snarled, slamming his hand down onto the desk. "Crane's starting to irritate me full stop!"

"What are you on about?" Ryan asked, glancing over to the purple ranger. "Is it the...?"

"It's the whole 'I can't talk about what I was doing before because it's a secret, but hey, I'll flaunt stuff around when it suits me' thing," Luke retorted, glaring at Ryan. "Is that annoying anyone else?"

"Just a bit," Katie replied. "But, if he doesn't want to tell us, then we can't exactly force him. He is our friend..."

"He's really acting like it," Luke muttered. "Being a complete jerk and..."

"Hey, lay off him," Duo said, rounding on the purple ranger. "Crane's a good guy. A really good person."

"You would say that, being his friend," Luke commented, sarcastically. "It's like getting Katie to give a damning character statement about you. It's just not going to happen."

"My point is, if he has secrets then I'm willing to respect his right to keep those confidential," Duo replied. "So, knock it off."

"And also, where did his ranger powers go?" Luke continued, ignoring the black ranger. "Last time we saw him, he still had them. Ever since he showed back up, he's been in at least two situations where they would have helped him out and he hasn't cranked them out."

"That's because I no longer have them."

Turning their heads to the left, the people aboard the bridge saw them come in, both Crane and Paige walking out into the room, with Nikitca behind her.

"Dorlinda took the morpher back off me," he continued. "That's not a secret, if you ask him, he'll either have done it, or he will do it in the future. I used it for what I needed it for and gave it back. It's not a secret."

"Okay then," Luke replied, slightly sheepishly. "So..."

"What's your plan?" Katie asked, glancing at the recovered Nikitca to try and help Luke regain some composure. "Before you passed out, you mentioned one..."

"I did?" Nikitca wondered, before regaining the memories of what she had said earlier. "I mean, I did. I do have reinforcements ready, willing and able. They're in space, just waiting for my signal. I need to return to my ship in the forest, and..."

"Errr... Guys?" Bill asked, looking up from the monitor in front of him, interrupting the conversation. "We may or may not have a problem. The Spectral Seven are back."

* * *

Across the region, he had deployed the Dark Spectre's to do their absolute in unleashing the brand of wrath that was being wrought onto the region. He could see Ignizi burning buildings with his powerful flames, could see Canerd and Infiltra attacking random people in the streets. Hazario had wandered into a hospital ward, unleashing his own particular brand of toxic smoke into the atmosphere, while Stzor and Urie had attacked places that might resist them. Military bases, police stations, fire departments, the civil rights movement...

Part of him enjoyed the chaos that he had brought down on the region. Part of him was welcoming the impending introduction of the brand new world in front of them all.

"All is coming together," Doomsday laughed, folding his arms. His brand new arms, both of which he was enjoying having, the lack of limbs while in Dark Spectre form something that had distressed him considerably. Being solid was just so... Just so liberating. He could touch, he could taste, he could feel...

Apart from the relatively minor complaining of his host's subconscious deep below the surface, it was pretty much perfect.

Yet, he knew that it was going to get better. With the Dark Spectre troops behind him, there was no way that it could fail.

He was in control. Completely.

* * *

With the rest of the rangers on high alert for the next time an attack was brought raining down onto Verger by the roving band of alien threats that Bill had already coined The Spectral Seven, Crane had volunteered to go to with Nikitca back to her ship. Even despite the admission that he no longer had his G-Force powers, the others had all begrudgingly accepted that he wasn't even close to being helpless in a fight.

Especially after he had nearly put Infiltra through a tree in the earlier battle, a moment that he was still relishing in his head, at least until Nikitca broke the silence as the two of them moved through the woods.

"Tell me," she said, wary at the way he might react if she didn't broach the subject with trepidation. "How is it that I can't read your thoughts."

"Because I'm special."

"I've never met a human whose thoughts I can't read," she protested. "What makes you so special?"

"How many humans have you met?" he wondered, raising an eyebrow as he asked the question. "Honestly, I want to know? Forget met, how many have you had contact with?"

"About twenty, give or take."

"There's a heck of a lot more than that on this planet," Crane said, softly. "Ten billion more than twenty."

"Numbers don't mean a lot," she answered. "Still... You're not from this planet, are you?"

"I think you'll find that I am," he replied, indignant at what she had implied, if a little bemused. "Just not yet. I'm from the future. Many many years into the future, by which point humanity has reached out to touch the stars. You may well be the first Syodian to walk on this planet, but you won't be the only one."

A little taken aback by his confession, Nikitca fell silent, instead searching for her shuttle. The details were a little hazy, she was searching for the energy readings telepathically. Then, it occurred to her that Crane was probably telling the truth. At least partly.

"That would be how you knew enough to treat my wounds," she commented. "You've seen Psycho Burn wounds before?"

"Couple of times," the former ranger replied. "I've been hit by them before, very painful. But, I have seen them before in duels."

Not really hearing him, Nikitca perked her head up in relief. She had located her ship.

* * *

"They'll meet us at the coordinates of the Silver Gyarados," she announced, stepping down out of the strange shuttle that she and Zhirko had arrived in. Even as she did so, the engines of the vehicle began to erupt into life, before it easily hovered up from a sitting position and into the air, holding its position for a moment before accelerating away into the night sky. "I've sent them a message, they'll be teleporting down."

"Wait, if you can teleport down, why did you and Zhirko need the shuttle?"

"It's the one way to ensure a blind controlled landing. Had we teleported down, we would probably have ended up separated, possibly anywhere in the region. At least now, they have something to aim at. Teleportation is not an easy skill, it takes concentration and a full idea of where it is that you need to land."

"I see..." he replied, before realising the inconsistency in the statement. "But, you teleported the eight of us, plus yourself, to the Silver Gyarados."

"Because I knew about it from what I read telepathically."

"Oh."

* * *

"Boss!"

The call came from Urie, the Dark Spectre bustling over to speak to Doomsday, a real, if slight, quaver of worry in her voice.

"Yes?"

"There's something that's leaving the planet. It's a vehicle, it's not human. Whatever it is, it's just about to leave the Earth's atmosphere."

"That last remaining Syodian must have cut and run," Doomsday laughed, slapping his hands together in joy. "Ah, we win. Just seven rangers to take care of..."

"Eight," Infiltra corrected. "There's eight to take care of."

"No, there's seven," Doomsday corrected. "Remember?"

"But...?"

"Remember!"

"Okay then..."

* * *

No sooner had Crane and Nikitca returned to the Silver Gyarados, had Bill announced that there were teleporting beings inbound. At first, Duo had made a comment about his equipment being sensitive to picking up the method as to which the returning two had come back by. Then, Nikitca had sensed it too, immediately teleporting away out of sight, leaving the rest of the crew aboard the Silver Gyarados to come following her onto the deck.

After the short walk, the ten humans living on the Silver Gyarados, found themselves watching, as five streaks of coloured light, black, blue, yellow, white and green, burst down onto the deck, before forming into five other Deoxys, all wearing similar armour to Nikitca but in different colours, the same ones as they had teleported down to the boat in.

"These are my colleagues," Nikitca remarked, looking across the line of five in front of her. "The best of the best that Syodia has to offer."

"So, you're all... What?" Luke asked, glancing at the group. "Rangers? Because that's... Handy to have."

"The Syodian Rangers," Crane commented, confirming what Luke had suggested. "A highly effective fighting force not just confined to Saffron Epsilon Eight, but also to settle minor disputes on other planets close to them. As they continue to do for years on end, until..."

He realised he was rambling, the former ranger quickly clamming up in case he gave out too much information, something that he didn't want to reveal. He was fully aware that all eyes were on him, interested in what he had to say.

"Please, carry on," he said, taking a step back away from the rest. "Big ranger get together and all that..."

"State your names!" Nikitca ordered, looking across the crew of Syodians. "While on Earth and the guests of our friends here, we can at least afford them the honour of knowing what to call us."

"Garris!" the black armoured Deoxys replied, throwing them a salute and a smile. Like Zhirko, he was clearly male, that much apparent from his voice.

"Elphock!" remarked the Deoxys with the blue armour, also a male. Rather than the formalness of Garris, he instead offered a wave and a grin.

"Valteria!" This one was from the yellow armoured Deoxys, who, in a trend repeating pattern they could also tell was male from the voice.

"Cerina!" the penultimate Deoxys with the white armour said. Surprise surprise, he was male, and winked across at Katie, Nahir and Paige.

"Herinko!" said the final Syodian, this one being female from the voice and she wore green armour across her body.

"Elite fighting force, huh?" Nahir asked, glancing over at Crane. "Are they really that good?"

"Never seen them in action," he replied, rolling his eyes in bemusement at the question directed at him. "And I believe the term I used was effective, rather than elite."

"I'm confused," Ryan remarked, looking over at Nikitca. "If you have the ability to morph, then why didn't you use it earlier? Why did you need our help to take down the Spectral Seven?"

"We were taken quite by surprise," she said, not protesting but not taking the comment lightly either. "Plus, there was the thing about being outnumbered."

"Always thought it would be hard to sneak up on a telepath," Crane remarked. "Guess you can't pick up Dark Spectre thoughts, huh?"

"Apparently not," Elphock answered, tapping his temple to emphasise the point. "Something we learned. Albeit the hard way."

"We're going to get Zhirko back," Herinko said, softly. "We're also going to make Doomsday pay for what he's done."

"I like the optimism here," Duo quipped, folding his arms. "What's the plan then? Lure them out and take them on in a big epic battle?"

"Tried and tested," Paige remarked. "If it works, don't fix it."

* * *

_"There it is below us," Cerina remarked, looking down at the blue and green orb below them, a smile on his face. "The lost planet of Earth."_

_"It can't be that lost, we found it easy enough," Zhirko commented, admonishing the white-armoured Syodian with calm elation. "Although, we do have the finest navigator on Syodia."_

_"Why thank you," Herinko said, joining the two of them over the observation deck. "But, it wasn't that difficult. Those myths about the Earth being lost are just that."_

_"As we have proved," Valteria said, mirroring Cerina's smile as he stepped closer to the rest of the group. "If nothing else, we will have proved something on this mission."_

_"That's not the gist of our mission!"_

_The next voice came from Nikitca, their leader walking into the observation deck to join the rest of them._

_"Ma'am!" Garris offered, throwing her a salute. "Are we in position?"_

_"Almost," she answered. "Soon, we will be in range for the shuttle to take us down."_

_"What's the plan again?" Elphock asked, sounding mock-puzzled. "Just run that by us one more time."_

_"Only two of us shall go down," she replied. "A small investigation force, a reconnaissance team to size up the situation. When we know more, we can judge the appropriate action to take with the problems abound on the surface."_

_"If two are going," Cerina wondered, shooting another look across at the planet below them. "Then who remains?"_

_"I will be going," Nikitca announced, folding her arms as she scanned the room for any sign of dissent. "I want to see the full extent of what is going on down there myself. And, I also wish to take Zhirko."_

_"I shall prepare for departure, Ma'am," Zhirko instantly replied, bowing to her. "It will be my pleasure to accompany you."_

_"If that's your choice," Herinko commented, apparently a little displeased by the decision that had been made. "Then we will accept it."_

_

* * *

_

"You want to explain how Syodia ended up with rangers?" Nahir asked, looking over to the six Deoxys' in front of her, the group making their way up to the bridge. "Because, when we went there last year..."

"We were open to that sort of attack," Garris replied. "You arrived upon our planet and offered us aid in our time of need. Yet, we knew that we would not wish to rely upon you to do the same again, because that was a one off occasion."

"So, Lord Absalon ordered that research be carried out into a similar sort of power," Elphock offered, finishing the story. "It went down well, we took the power and have been using them to help ourselves in time of need. Which have inevitably occurred."

"What's the plan for drawing out Doomsday?" Duo asked, turning around to face them while walking backwards up the stairs. "Do you have one?"

"Of course," Herinko answered. "While he's in Zhirko, Doomsday has all the abilities and strengths of a Syodian. We can flash something into his head, some sort of misleading image that will bring him to mobilise his troops in an area of our convenience."

"That sounds so simple it couldn't fail to work," Xavier muttered, nodding in agreement. "Think that it's a good idea."

* * *

"Hmmm..."

He had felt it, the image blazing into his head like a scourge, the source of it unknown to him. Although as he accessed the host's memories, raking through Zhirko's mind like a book, it quickly became clear what it had been intended to do.

"Those pesky rangers," he muttered, looking around the chamber in front of him. "They're trying to trick us. Nikitca's trying to lure me to an area where she can try and save Zhirko. It's all in the guise of negotiation, she's going to try and offer a deal for his freedom. But, she's likely to have those rangers with her, possibly as an ambush."

"Downright sneaky Syodian," Stzor grumbled, scowling in disgust. "What are we going to do with them?"

"I think we're going to give her what she wants," Doomsday replied, leaning back on his makeshift throne. "We're going to go down there in force and wipe them off the face of the map."

"I don't think that they're on the map," Infiltra offered, sarcastically. "But, I get the idea."

* * *

Just as she had promised in her telepathic communication, Nikitca was there, her arms folded in the clearing. Yet, also due to the telepathy that his host body possessed, he could hear the hidden rangers around the area, could sense where they were hiding due to the screeching forceful nature of their thoughts. Already he was preparing to counter them, by telepathically directing his henchmen to their locations, defusing her plan.

"You come alone?" he asked, just waiting for the lie to come.

It didn't disappoint as she confirmed that that was the case, she was alone with no help around her.

"Liar," he said, facing her down with her deception, coming up with an argument that she wouldn't be able to counter no matter how hard she tried to do so. "I can hear their thoughts. That never occurred to you, did it?"

"Actually..." she replied, her face lighting up with a grin. "It did!"

Before he could react, six shouts of pain came bellowing out, followed by the sight of his warriors been thrown from the places where he had believed the humans to be hiding. And, just as quickly, the humans in question came running into the clearing, he had probably passed them on the way in.

"Look at that!" Luke crowed, as the Syodian Rangers began to float down from cover, it having been they that had projected the false thoughts down to Doomsday. "The big dumb lummox fell for it. What a moron!"

"You... You tricked me?" Doomsday said, shocked by that very thought. "That's..."

"Not used to being tricked, huh?" Katie asked. "Don't worry, it's not going to happen again."

"You're going on a way trip back to the Prison Dimension!" Paige shouted, folding her arms. "So, might want to hold that feeling."

"Give us Zhirko back right now!" Herinko warned. "And, we might make it a lot less painful for you!"

"Stiff warning, Heri," Doomsday laughed, not really taking her seriously. "You haven't got the _Frinkrors_ to follow through with it."

"Thirteen versus seven," Nikitca said, softly. "How do you fancy your odds?

"Pretty well, fearless leader," he retorted, making a hand gesture at her, something that nobody quite understood...

* * *

"Aww, jeez," Crane said, watching it on the Silver Gyarados monitors, the only one who apparently got the gist of what it had meant. "That's just rude."

"I don't get it," Lance commented, both he and Bill just as bemused as the Syodians and the Genesis Rangers by what it had meant. "What does it mean?"

"Literally?" Crane asked. "It means..."

Even as he finished telling them, both men looked completely disgusted by the revelation that they had heard from the former ranger.

"Seriously, I've never heard that before," Lance remarked, shocked. "That's not used now, is it?"

"Not for another... Fifty thousand years. Nearly. Give or take."

"Guess there's about the only way to settle this thing then," Garris commented, having got the gist that the gesture wasn't something pleasant. "By brute force and violence."

"It is traditional," Ryan pointed out, helpfully. "Especially when there's no other way."

"Let's do this!" Duo yelled, punching the air. Across from him, Katie made the signal for them to bring their morphers up, while simultaneously giving him a dirty look.

"I shout that," she muttered, angrily. "Anyway, Genesis Overload!"

All seven of them activating their morphers, they transformed into their ranger suits, all seven of them taking up fighting stances as they faced the line of Dark Spectre forces in front of them.

Next, the six Syodians all took up fighting stances of their own, ready to contribute.

"Time to do this!" Nikitca said, the golden jewel in the middle of her chest starting to glow with a bright red energy. Across the line, the rest of the Deoxys began to do the same, the jewels glowing with the same colour as their armour. "Syodian power! Ranger form!"

As one, they began to morph, the armour they wore began to shine with their ranger colour, before growing thicker, along with the appearing boots, belt and gloves, separated from the rest of the armour with black bands. Across the chests of the costume, surrounding the golden jewels were intertwined black patterns, all too complex to describe, while the same design appeared around the thighs of the costume in the same colours. At the same time, helmets appeared on their heads, adorned with a Deoxys design. All of them had black eye holes, along with a silver mouthpiece, while they had large swords at the waist of their belts. In the case of Garris, the black Syodian Ranger, the normally black adornments were silver. Neither Nikitca or Herinko's ranger suits had skirts.

"Nice uniforms," Xavier remarked, glancing over. "They much good in combat?"

"More combat ready versions of our normal attire," Cerina answered, grinning under his helmet. "Especially while on a strange and dangerous mission. Want to do this?"

"Why not," Nahir commented, shooting a look at Infiltra as the two groups started to advance on each other. "No time like the present to get it on."

* * *

She and Valteria were up first, going onto tackle Infiltra, the Dark Spectre assassin seeming to relish the chance of going another round with her yellow ranger rival as the battle raged on around the three of them. It didn't take long for Infiltra to crack out her own special trick, the one that she had acquired from Nahir herself. Even as she was running rings around the yellow Genesis Ranger, Valteria stepped in with his superior Deoxys senses and struck out with his sword, hitting her in the shoulder. As a strange liquid erupted out from the wound, Nahir kicked her in the face, knocking her to the ground. It took her all of no time to recover, accelerating back into the action to grab Nahir by the throat and hurl her back through the air. As the yellow Genesis Ranger flailed through the short flight, Infiltra easily accelerated after her, grabbing her before she hit the ground, ready to slam her into the closest tree.

"I've got to stop annoying yellow rangers," she laughed, only a split second away from sending Nahir crunching into the wooden object...

As Valteria stepped in and hit her in the face, knocking her off stride. Again activating his superior Deoxys speed, he just barely managed to catch Nahir before she ploughed against the tree.

* * *

This time, Duo went for Urie, knowing that his Umbreon-based suit would give him a hand in countering her telekinetic powers. Alongside him, Garris charged across the ground, easily outpacing the black Genesis Ranger as he mutated into his Speed Forme.

"Handy ranger suits, no?" he asked, spinning gracefully around an oncoming telekinetic attack from Urie to evade, before tackling her. Quickly, she threw up a Protect to block him, only for Duo to catch up, the Shadow Sabre out, and strike with a feint that broke through the shield and hit her in the body. Not hesitating, Garris brought out his own black rapier-like Syodian Sword and unleashed several lighting fast strikes. As Urie staggered back, he transformed back into his regular form, the sword mutating along with him into a regular shaped weapon.

"Morphing sword according to whatever forme I'm in," he said, looking at Duo. "Cool, huh?"

"Pretty much," Duo replied, before his Shadow Sabre began to glow with a black energy. "This is better. Night Slash!"

Giving the command, he sprang up and hit out with the glowing black sword, striking Urie several times before finally downing her. As she hit the ground, she exploded into thousands of very small pieces, all which vanished on contact with the dirt.

"Should have seen that one coming," the black Genesis Ranger quipped, lowering his weapon.

* * *

Unlike before when he had elected for the battle against Stzor, Xavier went to take on Ignizi, alongside the Blue Syodian Ranger, Elphock. Already, he had the Tidal Trident out, ready to utilise his water type abilities against something that couldn't resemble the burning intensity of a fire any more. Already, it was starting to glow with the bright blue energy, readying itself for the oncoming attack.

"Waterfall!"

In motion, he brought the weapon to bear, striking up with enough power to force himself up a powerful waterfall, ready to strike his foe down...

... Yet Ignizi brought a searing hot ball of heat, forcing him back. As he staggered, Elphock charged in, his blue Syodian Sword in his hand. Morphing into his Defense Form, his weapon also began to change with him, transforming into a huge broadsword. Taking the heat into the weapon, blocking it from harming him, he struck out with the flat side of the weapon, it only knocking Ignizi back rather than seriously harming him. Returning to his regular form, he quickly went back Attack Forme, the weapon again morphing into a twin bladed sword, the hilt in the middle. Not letting up, he struck out at Ignizi, bringing roars of pain from the Dark Spectre.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Xavier asked, looking over at Elphock who shrugged.

"I can see what you're thinking," he replied, bringing the sword back up before moving to strike out at Ignizi, Xavier doing the same with another Waterfall attack...

The two blows were enough to completely destroy him, the remains of the Dark Spectre vanishing into a huge fireball as they hit the ground.

* * *

This time, Ryan went for Stzor, combining with his Syodian counterpart, Herinko to battle against the Dark Spectre that was already aiming his cannon at them as the two raced towards him.

"Blight of the galaxy!" Herinko howled, forcing her sword out of the sheath to tackle the opponent. "Your time is up!"

"Only just starting," he retorted, blocking her attack with his energy sword before kicking her back. As Ryan tried to link in with the attack, Stzor spun and blasted him with the cannon on his other arm, the powerful attack hurling Ryan down onto his back. Not willing to back down, Herinko mutated into her Attack Forme and sliced out with both sides of her sword, the attack dealing huge damage to the enemy. Roaring in pain, Stzor spun back to face her, the cannon on his arm coming up to blow her into oblivion...

... Only for Ryan to recover from the earlier attack, the green Genesis Ranger springing up from the prone position, Genesis Blaster in one hand, Fauna Hammer in the other. Covering the short distance between himself and the enemy, he managed to unload several blasts of green energy into Stzor's back, before the Hammer began to glow with the same coloured light.

"Frenzy Plant!" he bellowed, striking the weapon down into the ground. In an instant, thick thorny vines erupted from the earth, shooting up to impale Stzor in several places. Although it looked painful, it wasn't quite enough to finish him off.

* * *

Meanwhile, Cerina and Paige were battling against Canerd, the swords from the Dark Spectre sweeping out to try and strike them down before they became a problem. Both of them had their own ways of countering, Paige shifted into her Ice Ball form, while Cerina morphed into his Speed Forme and accelerated out of the way. With Canerd momentarily defenseless, he sprang back in with three lighting fast rapier strikes from the transformed Syodian Sword, before Canerd could counter. Even as he made to do so, Paige bounced across him several times with her Ice Ball attack, dealing some severe damage to the bird-like Dark Spectre. Returning back to her normal ranger form, she spun and kicked him towards Cerina who had transformed into his Attack Forme. The double bladed swords came up, would have almost decapitated Canerd if he hadn't blocked the strike with a sword. Grunting in anger, the Dark Spectre struck out with his other sword, trying to impale Paige who jumped over it and kicked him in the face. As he stumbled, she grabbed his head and slammed it down into the ground, more squawks of pain ringing out from the stricken Dark Spectre.

* * *

All on his own, something that was clearly bothering him, Luke was again facing Hazario. Even despite his discomfort at fighting alone, he leaped up to kick the Dark Spectre in his huge Weezing face, throwing him back. It didn't take long for the enemy to recover, springing back to hit Luke with his cape, the surprising thickness of the clothing enough to stun the purple ranger with the blow. Before Luke could recover, he was hit with a Sludge attack, the thick liquid blast forcing him down to his knees in pain. It had easily seeped through his ranger suit, the stuff now in his system causing him incredible agony.

"Poor you, having to fight me alone," Hazario laughed, looking down at the groaning purple ranger. "You're not the first one I've killed this way. You probably won't be the last. That's a fast acting poison, you'll be dead in a few minutes."

"Guess I'll have to defeat you quickly then," he shot back, slowly getting to his feet. "If nothing else..."

"If you think you can, then take your best shot," Hazario taunted, visibly laughing at his weakened opponent. "But, you're still running out of time!"

"Then, I'm not holding back!" Luke roared, holding out his arms. "This time, I destroy you, Hazario! Toxic Armour!"

Instantly, the armour began to appear, the silver helmet combining with the Cobra one, giving it a slight Arbok appearance, while the arms became covered in a silver armour, large blades emerging out from the gauntlets while spikes erupted across the knuckles. Finally, more armour appeared upon the legs, while more spikes emerged across the side and tip of the boots.

"There's no difference," Hazario taunted, almost flipping off the purple ranger's challenge. "You can't defeat me! Not in the time remaining!"

"Not with that attitude," Luke retorted, before the blades on his arms began to glow with a bright purple energy, ready to use the armour's attack to its full potential.

Although it hurt, he started to focus, concentrating as hard as he could to direct all his strength into this one attack...

... And then he felt it, the surprising sensation rushing through him like a river.

"Hmmm..." he mused. "That's interesting! Toxic Slash!"

Throwing himself through the air, he struck out with the arm blades, five, six, seven, eight, nine times against Hazario, the combined force dealing some serious damage to the enemy who staggered back in sudden agony, having not expected the powerful blows.

"What... What just happened?" he asked, the eyes wide and worried. "Why aren't you dead?"

"This armour uses a poison based attack," Luke replied, casually. "You'd just poisoned me. I used the Toxic Armour to save myself, to remove the poison in my system and then power up the attack. Guess the force is with me!"

Jumping up from a standing position, he hit out with a flying kick, the blow smashing into Hazario's face, strong enough to send him flying through the air, where he exploded upon hitting the ground.

"But, not with you!"

* * *

Finally, Katie and Nikitca were up, taking on the anger-fueled might of Doomsday, the ringleader of the Spectral Seven easily the largest threat on show. Not waiting for it to start, Katie had brought both Heat Blasters up and fired several times at the foe, the miniature fireballs easily being blocked by Doomsday's acquired telekinetic attacks. Holding a barrier of them up in front of him, he hurled them back, sending them smashing towards Katie and Nikitca. The red Syodian Ranger easily managed to dash out of the way in her Speed Forme, yet Katie wasn't so lucky, having been tagged by the full array of them. Bringing her Syodian Sword out, Nikitca thrust several times at Doomsday who conjured a weapon up out of shadow energy and blocked her attacks with impunity.

"Not quite good enough, Kitca," he taunted, throwing a burst of telekinesis at her, something she couldn't quite block with her own psychic powers. As she staggered back, he struck out to try and impale her with his weapon, only for her to recover her composure and block the attack. Throwing her fist out, she hit him with a Superpower attack, knocking him back away from where she was before going for him with a sword attack. Again, their weapons clashed before he kicked her legs out from beneath her, sending her onto her back. Not hesitating, he upturned the sword, ready to slam it into her and finish her off, only for her to roll away at the last second, his weapon crashing into the ground where it vanished.

That was when Doomsday felt the barrel of a weapon against the side of his head, the sudden appearance of it taking him completely by surprise.

"Whoops!" came the taunt, as the blast from the Flareon Battle Rifle roared out, the explosion smashing into Doomsday's head and throwing all three combatants back. The two red rangers landed away from their enemy, Doomsday now groaning at the huge pain in his head where the attack had hit.

"You ready to break the curse?" Katie asked, already anticipating the transformation. It had been a while since she had been one with the weapon she was about to call upon, ironically not since the last time she had teamed up with another red ranger.

"Hunter Battlizer!"

As the vehicle in question came swooping down, Katie leaped up into the air to secure herself in. Her morpher glowing with a red light, light that transformed into energy that washed over and across her, soon metamorphising into flames. Flames that quickly faded away, as the transformation began. The red energy at her morpher spreading out across her body, she momentarily transformed into a living rendition of a Charizard. Similar to the way that she did when morphing into her Zord form, it only lasted for a second before she returned back to ranger form. Only with some new armour visible, the Charizard's head remaining, her helmet within its mouth with the rest of the face surrounding it. The wings of the Hunter Glider became part of her body, taking on the constitution of Charizard wings. Under her suit, her muscles grew larger, while a cream coloured oval formed on her stomach. Across her chest, a metallic silver band came across, while her gloves and boots hardened and grew claws at the end. The claws on her gloves extended out over her fingers as she landed and took a fighting stance.

"An excellent choice," Nikitca remarked, taking up a stance of her own. "I shall do the same. Psycho Booster Battlizer!"

Not quite sure what to expect, Katie paused to glance over at the sight. Hurling herself up into the air, Nikitca began to glow with a bright golden light, originating from the golden orb in her stomach. Huge red spikes began to erupt from her ranger suit, mutating together to form a thick armour not dissimilar to that which she wore while in her Defense Form. From that bedrock base, smaller spikes poked up out of the armour, especially across her knuckles. Her Deoxys shaped helmet took on a more triangular shape, while the sword at her waist disappeared to be replaced by a large blaster rifle.

"Now, it's going to get interesting!" Doomsday crowed, taunting both of them. "Let's go!"

Not hesitating, Katie raced forward to attack, bringing her claws up to try and swipe out at the Dark Spectre...

"Hunter Slash!"

Claws flashing through the air, they hit the Syodian body, raking through the skin before bringing a growl of agony from the enemy before he struck back with a Superpower strike, downing her onto one knee. Before he could follow up, a stream of energy, all the colours of the rainbow erupted across the battlefield and hit him in the shoulder, driving him away from Katie, courtesy of Nikitca's Psybeam Rifle. Seizing the initiative back, the red Genesis Ranger looked up, her visor glowing with energy.

"Hunter Beam!"

Expelled from the visor, the triple coloured beam raced through the air, crashing against Doomsday to cause even more damage. Damage on his skin that was starting to show up, already the Deoxys body was starting to show wear and tear.

"And, your time is up!" Katie roared, ready to take flight. "You're going..."

"Let me do this," Nikitca interrupted, cutting her off. "He's a Syodian, I put him in this situation, It's my duty to get him out of this situation. I shall remedy this problem."  
"Okay," Katie replied, taking a step back away from her. "But, if you don't, I..."

"You're welcome to him," Nikitca answered, before racing up into the air. "Syodian Asteroid Smash!"

It took all of a few seconds for her to start to arrow back down to earth, her body momentarily shifting away into the image of a huge asteroid, one steaming towards the ground with all the grace of a falling piano...

... Straight onto Doomsday, the Dark Spectre vanishing underneath the attack in a ball of fire. Not even a roar of pain rang out as he was vaporised by the attack, only a pillar of smoke and fire remaining where the two of them had been.

There was still no trace of either him, or Zhirko as Nikitca, back in regular ranger form, appeared out of the smoke.

* * *

All around them, the rest of the other rangers were finishing off their battle against their opponents. Bringing her Storm Staff up, Nahir again slammed it down into the ground, sending a Discharge attack out into Infiltra's body. Momentarily pausing her, it gave Valteria the chance to swoop in and nail her with a sword strike. With her on the ropes, Nahir again attacked, this time with a Spark Strike, the blow forcing her enemy down to the ground upon which she exploded. At the same time, Paige, Cerina, Ryan and Herinko were finishing off Canerd and Stzor in the same fashion, the already weakened Dark Spectres going down easily before exploding into thousands of pieces.

With the last lot of remains smouldering in front of them, the thirteen of them began to realise as one that the Dark Spectre threat to Earth had ended.

"So..." Duo said, looking down at the seven piles of smoke and fire. "Anyone for barbecue?"

None of the Syodian Rangers replied, instead bowing their heads in sadness and respect over the loss of their comrade, something that the black ranger quickly realised, bowing his own head in shame.

"Sorry," he muttered, dropping into a squatting position. "I forgot."

That was when Zhirko rose up from the ashes of the remains of where Doomsday had fallen, battered and bruised by the ordeal, but completely healthy otherwise.

"Don't mourn me yet," he groaned. "I'm not for the afterlife at this time."

* * *

"Man, that was intense!" Xavier said, the fourteen figures, both human and Deoxys, finding themselves back on the deck of the Silver Gyarados. "What a battle."

"It was without doubt, our toughest so far," Herinko remarked, sagely. "However, we are grateful for the experience to visit the planet."

"And to fight alongside the eight of you was an enriching experience," Garris added, bowing slightly. "We will only grow stronger from this."

"Likewise," Katie said, looking across their allies. They hadn't expected to find more in this time of need, but any help was welcome. "It was a honour to meet and work with you all."

"If you ever need any help at all," Zhirko offered, mirroring Garris' gesture of thanks. "Do not hesitate to ask. We're only a distant satellite transmission away from getting in touch, we can be here to help out if you need it."

"We may just take you up on that offer at some point," Ryan answered. "It's good to meet you all."

"That is twice that you have helped resolve a problem that would be quite a conundrum to the Syodian people had your intervention not been there," Elphock commented. "I think, in the words of your planet, 'we owe you one'."

"Only on here for a couple of hours and you're already picking up the lingo," Nahir remarked, smiling at the seven of them. "Good for you."

"It is almost time for us to make our departure," Nikitca said, the Deoxys' group starting to turn away. "Farewell, friends."

"Hey!"

Even as they were readying themselves to leave, Nikitca found herself pausing to see what it was that Crane wanted. As the former red ranger walked over to her, she could see that he was removing his gauntlet, the skin pale underneath the golden metal of the armour.

"You want to learn more about the Prison Dimension and the like," he said, holding the item out to her. "Consider this a gift."

"A gift?"

"A portal to learning, whatever you want to call it," he replied. "It's something that I think you should have, it's important that you take it."

"You know this?" she asked, eyeing him up with interest. "It is important to you?"

"Not just to me, but to the entire galaxy," he replied. "Trust me on that."

Smiling at him, she took the item from him, weighing it up in her hands before placing it under her arm.

"Until we meet again then," she replied, seconds before the seven alien figures vanished from sight, seven streaks of light elevating up into the sky, flying high until they vanished into the atmosphere.

"Nice people, huh?" Katie commented, still watching the sky. "Aliens, whatever. They were pretty good."

"You think we'll ever meet them again?" Paige asked, leaning back to glance at the same sight. "Because Cerina was a nice guy. Alien, whatever."

"Who knows," Luke remarked, shrugging. "If it gets really bad, you never know, it might be handy to have them on backup."

"Things aren't that bad yet," Xavier said, glancing around at them. "But, you never know. There's always worse. Much worse."

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Ah well, that's the penultimate two parter of the season. One more soon. But, an introduction to the Syodian Rangers. Will they be back? Never know.**

**Can I just say in the last several chapters, it seems like I'm laying down info for Cosmo Force really. The next season.**

**Which reminds me, I should come up with a preview for that at some point. But, some of the Dark Spectres may well return next season, some of the ones destroyed here.**

**No more Dark Spectre threat, no more Cobra Rangers... Just the old fashioned rangers vs Coppingers now until the end of the season.**

**Anyway, the next one is entitled Spores Of Doom. Again, with the doom. Anyway, preview below, up at some point.**

**There was also a Megazord battle in here originally, but I took it out for timing.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review. Seriously! Errr... Infiltra can reply to it. Yep.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Forty One, Spores Of Doom, preview.**

**Xavier: Can't believe we got roped into doing this.**

**Ryan: At least we're getting out more.**

**Xavier: What the hell are those things?**

**?: Whatever these spores are, they're incredibly toxic.**

**Arbok: We can use this? Right?**

**Dennis: It's time to strike back!**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	41. Spores Of Doom

Chapter Forty One. Spores Of Doom.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_The Syodian Rangers arrived on Earth, intent on searching for information about the Dark Spectres and the Prison Dimension. Their leaders, Nikitca and Zhirko were the first to arrive, where they quickly became targets for the final seven alien spirits, the Spectral Seven. Their leader, Doomsday wanted a Syodian host, one that he found in Zhirko. As the rangers and Nikitca retreated, Crane treated Nikitca's wounds while revealing what he knew about the alien race. As she recovered, the two of them went to summon the rest of the Syodian Rangers from space, as the Spectral Seven attacked. Eventually, the thirteen rangers came up with a plan, luring the Dark Spectres down into one place where they could destroy them all at once. Even though Doomsday was destroyed when Nikitca used her Battlizer on him, Zhirko survived, before the Syodian Rangers left, along with the gauntlet that Crane had given them as a gift..._

_

* * *

_

"Oh yeah! Get in! Finally beaten you!"

Hurling the controller down to the floor, Ryan sprang up and began to dance around the room in glee, relishing the shocked luck on Xavier's face. On the screen, the Red SDI Ranger had fallen, the Blue Genesis Ranger standing over the defeated figure in victory.

"Love that new expansion pack with the Genesis Rangers in," he taunted. "Guess you are the biggest threat to yourself."

"It's still a victory for me, technically," Xavier retorted. "Besides, it got boring beating you after the first five hundred and seventy two times. Thought I'd let you win one."

"Well, aren't you the generous one!"

"That's what they say," the blue ranger quipped. "Want to go again? Blue Genesis vs Green Genesis Rangers?"

"Meh, if it came down to it, I would actually kick your butt," Ryan retorted. "Type advantage and all. I'd crush your little Vaporeon head with my hammer."

"You'd have to get to me first," Xavier shot back. "I'd just drown you with my trident, before poking you several times."

For the next several moments, the two of them sat in silence, the only noise coming from the screen as the two game combatants went at each other.

"Who do you think would win if it came down to it?" Ryan eventually wondered. "If the seven of us went at each other..."

"I prefer not to think about it," Xavier replied, a split second before the cell phone in Ryan's pocket began to ring. A quick look of fascination passed across the green ranger's face before he reached down to answer it, still bemused by who it could be.

"Hello?"

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. Crane appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefacts. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Dark Spectres hover above Coppinger mutant monsters._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord, North Wind Megazord and Silent Strike Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

"Can't believe we got roped into doing this," Xavier complained, carrying the empty chest of drawers up the stairs. "This is..."

"At least we're getting out more," Ryan remarked, a bemused grin on his face. "Huh? Can't fault that."

"What makes you think we need to get out more?" the blue ranger asked, dropping the item onto the wet lawn outside the house. "We fight on average one creature every three to four days. That's..."

"You ever think you spend too much time playing video games?"

"Nah, that's the only way to get really good at them," Xavier replied, quickly. "Besides, I don't have an addiction. I'll just ham that part up when I release a copy of my autobiography, claim that it was just as destructive as all that alcohol that Luke used to stash in the Aquabase."

"He used to...?"

"Yeah," Xavier answered. "He claimed to drink a bottle of Machampagne a night. Of course, it turned out that it was heavily diluted down..."

"Wait, what?" Ryan asked, already moving back towards the basement of the home. "So, he... It just makes no sense. Much like anything he does."  
"Think he mainly did it to try and cause an effect," Xavier answered, following Ryan back. "What really made no sense at first is why you agreed to come and do this. And why you dragged me along."

"How you guys doing?"

The call came from the owner of the house, a brown haired woman in her early twenties wearing a pink and blue dress, as she came out to check on them.

"Great, thanks," both of them called, before watching her go back into the house, a quick grin flashing across Ryan's face as she left.

"And, there's my answer," the blue ranger replied, sarcastically. "What more proof is there needed?"

"Okay, I think she's hot," Ryan answered. "But, she's my cousin's best friend. I owed my cousin a favour after she helped me out of a problem a while ago. This is pretty much the get-out clause from that arrangement."

"What sort of family do you have? Gangsters?"

"Well, it was a pretty big favour," he replied. "Other than that, if you want to talk the talk, open your mouth. You want to know about family, let's hear about yours."

"Okay, if you want to drop the subject, it's already sinking towards the bottom of the ocean," Xavier replied. "Say, you think that we'll ever need to get rid of a monster by dropping it to the ocean?"

"Us personally, probably not," Ryan remarked, shrugging. "But there's always the future. It could happen at some point."

* * *

The work had continued on through the afternoon, the two of them working to clean out the basement below the house. Until most of it was out, only a cabinet remaining left for them to move, the thing too large and heavy for one of them to move alone.

"Wonder what's in there," Ryan muttered, looking it up and down. "Because, it might be easier to move if we take out what's inside."

"Only one way to find out," the blue ranger replied, reaching over to pull the doors open. He was finding himself interested as to what could possibly be in there. Both he and Ryan had tried to move it already, the solid wooden cabinet too heavy for it to be a single person job.

Inside, the two of them could see several jars, as well as a huge plastic tank, filled with a multitude of strange green spores. Both of them stood there for a moment, watching the floating specks of powder in the plastic, a little confused as to what it was doing there.

"What the hell are those things?" Xavier asked, looking at the strange spores in the tank. "Are they... They look like some sort of pollen. Or possibly the stuff that comes off a Parasect when you hit it."  
"When have you ever hit a Parasect?" Ryan wondered, glancing around at him. "No wonder it tried to hit you with those things."

"When I've battled one in a Pokémon battle, you moron," Xavier said, irritably. "When you land a Pokémon attack on them, they give off spores on contact. Could be Sleep Powder, Stun Spore, Spore... What's the other one?"

"Poison Powder."

"That's the one," he replied, straightening up. "Either way, what they're doing down here, I don't know. Maybe we should ask her about them."

"Or, we could get them examined," Ryan suggested. "That's if she doesn't want them."

"Would you want to keep a tank full of crap like that?"

"She might want the tank."

"Then we'll post it back to her," Xavier groaned, slumping back against the wall. "Give me strength if I have to answer any more questions."

"It might be pricey posting that thing back," the green ranger commented, gesturing to it. "Could be..."

"We'll send the bill to Luke. Or Bill."

"We're going to send the bill to Bill?" Ryan asked, almost taking delight in winding Xavier up by this point. "That's probably going to annoy him."

* * *

"The University of Holimar City!" Ryan announced, pushing the door open. "How about this place? You ever seen anywhere like it?"

"Yeah, the three of them in Hoenn. In Rustboro, Lilycove and Mauville," Xavier answered, grumpily. "All of them equally prestigious."

"When did Rustboro get one?" Ryan asked, surprised. "I thought that Slateport had one instead. That's..."

"Yeah, it was totalled," Xavier replied, quickly. "I think the correct way to put it is that a bunch of bad bastards levelled the place flat. It took them quite a while to rebuild it, the thing's still not completely back to the way it was."

"Bad bastards, huh?"

"Hey, I'm a proud Hoennite," Xavier answered, as they made their way through to the Biology labs, the two of them getting some strange look from the students in the corridors. It wasn't every day that two strangers walked in, carrying a fish tank covered up with an old curtain. "I hate it that every few days it gets attacked by monsters, machines, aliens or computer viruses. Delete as appropriate."

"You missed out the crazed rock band," Ryan pointed out. "That's currently all the rage... Against the Machine."

Even as Xavier let out a groan, the two of them found themselves where they needed to be, a large lab with the door open ahead of them.

"No more puns, please," he groaned. "I think I'll go insane if that happens."

* * *

The Professor in charge of the lab, a short black haired man wearing a lab coat, black slacks and glasses had been incredibly welcoming to the two of them as they had walked in, readily agreeing to take the time to look at the tank of spores that they had found in the basement. In no time at all, Professor David Fleck had gathered a sample and was already examining it with an eagle-eyed intent. All in all, it had taken him all of ten minutes to make his prognosis and look back around to them.

"Whatever these spores are," Fleck replied, looking up from the microscope. "They're incredibly toxic. Good thing the case was sealed shut, or these things might have got out and contaminated an entire neighbourhood. Possibly a city. Possibly the region. Possibly the globe. Possibly..."

He paused for a moment, giving them a creepy look, his eyes wide with some sort of emotion.

"... The universe!"

"Is this guy for real?" Xavier wondered, whispering into Ryan's ear. "He seems a bit... what's the word in the head."

"Nah, he's great," the green ranger replied, quietly. "He's working here, huh? Most prestigious University in Verger..."

"Only University in Verger," Xavier shot back. "So..."

"Guys, these are quite an exciting find," Fleck replied, still rubbing his hands together and salivating at the mouth at the tank of spores in front of him. "I'd like to run some more examinations on them if it's not too much of a problem..."

"Well, we need to return the tank to someone," Xavier replied. "You're welcome to take any samples you want from it, but we'd prefer to keep hold of it. Not sure how good the security in this place is..."

"They let you in," Ryan commented, shaking his head at the blue ranger. "I'd be worried about the depths of..."

"Okay, that's fine," Fleck answered. "Just give me several minutes to take what I need, leave me a contact number and I'll be in touch with you. Although they are incredibly deadly in this form, there might be an application for them to be used in some other way."

* * *

"Okay, bye, Amy," Paige said, into her cell phone. "We'll hook up next time I'm in Hoenn. Or you're in Verger. Bye."

Hanging up, the white ranger looked around to see both Duo and Crane looking at her, both wearing surprised looks.

"What?"

"Amy?" Crane asked. "The same Amy who..."

"Pura?" Duo wondered. "Seriously? You're keeping in touch with her?"

"Yeah," Paige replied, quickly. "You mean, you guys aren't?"

"I was before I went back to the future," Crane answered, shrugging his shoulders to try and back up his point. "After I got back... I haven't really been in touch because I can't find her."  
"She's fine," Paige replied, already answering his question. "She's travelling around Hoenn with a rock band. Rangerz."

"Jeez, a little over a year in this time and she became a groupie," Duo commented, rolling his eyes. "Honestly!"

"Actually, she's doing some sort of technical work for them," Paige answered. "She was wandering around the region when she bumped into them. In case you'd bothered to find out, Duo, she was unsure of herself when the fight against Regli finished. Where she fitted in this brave new world. At first, she helped Dorlinda out, but eventually she realised she couldn't do that for a while. Then, I suggested..."

"We suggested!" Crane interrupted, gesturing to himself, then to Paige and then back to himself again. "It was a joint effort."

"... That she travel," Paige finished. "See what she can, work out who or what she is."

"Ah," the black ranger remarked. "Nice story."

No sooner had he made the comment did Ryan and Xavier come into the room, both of them still carrying the slightly less full than before plastic tank.

"... But this one sounds way more interesting," Duo commented, looking over to them. "Okay, spill."

"What?" Ryan asked, giving him a dirty look. "Seriously? You want to know about this?"

* * *

"David Fleck?" Bill asked, thoughtfully turning the name over and around inside his head as he tried to make sense of it. "That name sounds familiar. Very familiar. Although, I can't quite place it."

"Pokémon Biology Professor at the University of Holimar?" Lance asked. "Think that there's a chance that you might have heard of him before. Bit of a bad boy if I remember correctly."

"What are you telling us?" wondered Katie as she turned her expression towards the Dragon Master. "That those two might have done something stupid."

"There's a surprise," Luke muttered, rolling his eyes. "Anyone else shocked that it took this long?"  
"Hey!" Xavier protested, the blue ranger giving his purple counterpart a dirty look. "Like you'd have done any different."

"Well, there is one thing I would have done," Nahir said, folding her arms as she spoke. "One thing that you should have done with those spores. Rather than take them to a Pokémon Biologist, I think a Botanist would probably have been a better option."

"Fleck seemed to know what he was doing," Ryan protested. "Plus, if those spores came from a Pokémon, then there's a good chance that it was a smart idea."

"Plus, there isn't a Botany department there," Xavier offered, trying to be helpful. "We went for the next best thing."

All while the discussion had been going on, Bill had moved over to his computer, intent on checking something out. In the space of a few seconds, he had typed the name David Fleck into the search engine and was waiting for the results even as Xavier had finished making his excuse.

"Might want to check this out," he said, nodding down at the screen. "One way to find out if our friend is on the level. Use the Internet."

* * *

The lab that Fleck had used earlier to greet Xavier and Ryan was deserted. Rather than take them with him, the samples had been left out in the open, atop one of the bulky work benches in plain sight. Since the doors had been double locked, there was no danger of the cleaners coming in to remove them.

A double lock, a combination of key and key card, that quickly showed its true use as a thunderous crash rang out, the impact almost splintering it off its hinges. Quickly shoving the limp wooden frame aside, Dennis strode into the room as if he owned the place, Arbok behind him.

"Breaking and entering, huh?" the Coppinger scientist remarked. "Brilliant. Makes us look like criminals even more."

"Criminals?" Dennis asked, glancing around at him. "Well, committing a criminal act does not make you a criminal. Carrying out lots of them does not make you a criminal."

"Actually, I think it does," Arbok pointed out. "That's where they get the word criminal from. If we weren't before, we sure are now."

"Do you consider yourself a criminal, Arbok?" Dennis asked, walking over to the table where the spore samples lay. "Do you think that what we do is wrong?"  
"I think that some of the things we do are questionable," Arbok answered, already following his boss over. "But, considering what you want to do... I agree with your point of view. It's... Too painful not to. This world gives me great pain."

"What do you think?" the Coppinger leader asked, glancing down at the samples on the desk in front of the two of them. "In your honest and scientific opinion, can these be used. And..."

"We can use this?" Arbok asked, stood across the room, his eyes running away along the various objects that Fleck had left in his lab, each of them attracting his interest. He hadn't quite expected to be asked if he could do anything with them, expecting instead that he would be asked an opinion on what was there and that would be the end of it. "Right? That what you want me to do?"

"Bring them all back to the hideout," Dennis replied, softly. "It's time to strike back!"

* * *

"David Fleck," Bill remarked, the screen in front of him giving them all the information that they needed, or even wanted to know. "As Lance said, bit of a bad boy. He's a fine Pokémon Biologist, possibly the best living in the region. But, there is a certain sense of baggage where he's involved."

"Such as?" Luke asked.

"Gambling problems, turning up to lectures drunk... Okay, he only did that once. It's a Youtube classic. Professor turns up and tries a knife throwing act with scalpels against a student."

"I could imagine that with you," Duo commented as he turned to leer at Katie. "Stood there in the circus in your underwear while someone throws knives at you."

"You can imagine it, or you want to see it?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Both, I guess."

"Guys, can we get back to this?" Lance asked, interrupting them both. "This could be relevant."

"What happened to him after that?" Paige wondered. "After his knife trick?"

"Was suspended for a year... After that, he came back with a heavy warning. There were allegations of bribes, but nothing. Not enough to kick him out of the education system. Because, let's face it. We live in a world where seventy percent of the economy is related to Pokémon battling, and good educators are hard to come by."

"Nice to know what our future holds," Nahir said, sarcastically. "Anyone else feel slightly worried by it all?"

"Make no mistakes, I said he was a fine educator. Just a flawed genius," Bill said. "Also, in that year he was suspended... He apparently went to work for... Want to take a guess?"

"Sunderland Drinks Corporation?" Xavier offered. "Because..."

"Reims?" Lance said, ignoring the blue ranger, and by proxy the dirty look that he had been thrown by Luke. "Which would mean he possibly has Coppinger contacts."

* * *

"Okay then!" Arbok yelled, enthusiastically stepping back away from the container in front of him. "I've got it. I know how we can use these spores to best effect, and it is going to be fantastic!"

"Wish I could share your optimism," Dennis muttered. "Okay, let's see it."

Gesturing out at the tank, one that now had a Parasect in it as well as the spores, Arbok held up his other hand to his boss.

"Even as we speak, this Parasect has been ingesting, inhaling, absorbing the spores into its system. It might be about to die, but if you hand me the Genesis Book, we can use this to facilitate the process. We can create a monster, capable of causing death with a single touch. In theory."

Hearing what his scientist had said, it didn't take Dennis long to bring out the book from inside his coat. Handing it to Arbok, he watched as the Coppinger scientist covered his face with a mask before opening the tank up.

"There's no danger to me, is there?" Dennis wondered, his question going unanswered as Arbok opened the book up, the gas from within bursting out to cover the Parasect with its mutating fog. It didn't take long for the container to shatter as the creature grew, the smoke dispersing almost straight away as it revealed their new monster. It still looked like a Parasect, however it had a red skinned humanoid body that looked to be a thick armour, complete with mushroom-shaped shoulder guards. At the hands, it had the powerful pincers while on his head, only the eyes could be seen under the huge Parasect shell-like helmet he wore. Even as he began to walk over to them, thick clouds of poisonous spores began to come off him, falling to the ground.

"I am Sporeking," the mutant replied, bowing to the two of them. More spores fell from his body as he did so, much to the displeasure of Arbok. "I am here to serve you. I wish to poison the world... Can I do that?"

"Well, it would be helpful," Dennis said, breezily. "Don't let us stop you. If it needs doing, it needs doing."

"Plus, you won't be contaminating here," Arbok commented. The look that Sporeking gave him was hard to read, yet it soon faded as the monster vanished away to leave the two Coppingers alone.

"Think we might be immune to that actually," the Coppinger scientist said. "Maybe... I don't know."

"As long as the regular humans are, then we won't have a problem," Dennis replied confidently.

* * *

"He might have Coppinger contacts?" Crane asked, rolling his eyes. "Well, this could get annoying. Very annoying."

"Come on," Ryan said, folding his arms in a disgruntled fashion. "You guys said it yourselves. Just because he worked at Reims, there's no guarantee that he had any links with the Coppingers."

Almost straight away, the alarms began to ring out across the Silver Gyarados, the monitor with Fleck's profile on it immediately changing to show video footage of Sporeking attacking Lassana City.

"What are the odds," Duo muttered, the black ranger shaking his head. "You discover some strange spores and there's suddenly a Parasect monster on the loose...?"

"You can't blame us for this," Xavier pointed out. "It's probably a coincidence."

"Nobody blames either of you," Katie remarked. "But, we do have to take care of that thing. It could be a problem."

"Careful, rangers," Bill warned, seeing some of the purple clouds of powder falling from Sporeking's body. "I have a feeling that getting into contact with him might not be too healthy for you."

"Might have to attack from a distance then," Nahir said. "Those of us who can."

"We've all got that capability," Katie pointed out, bringing her morpher up. "There's always a chance. We can take this thing on."

"Guess we're going to have to," Paige commented.

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

No sooner had he hurled a barrage of poisonous spores across a tree close to him, instantly killing it. The corrosive effect of the stuff had killed it more or less straight away, the previously hardened wood turning into a pulped mess.

That was when he heard it. Following that, he felt the feeling of being shot several times with laser fire, he turned to see the seven rangers racing towards him, all with their ranged weapons out. Even on the run, Katie was already combining the twin Heat Blasters into the Flareon Battle Rifle, bringing the oversized weapon up to fire another attack into Sporeking. The ball of fire struck him in the chest, the searing heat stinging him a lot but other than that he was unharmed. His armour had done its job, protecting him from harm.

And, he was already back on the attack, firing a Signal Beam towards the attack rangers. The light olive beam ripped through the air, raking across his enemies. The bug type powers of the attack seemed to hurt Luke, Duo and Ryan the most, throwing them to the ground. Not letting up. he turned to fire a Seed Bomb out at Xavier and Nahir, the explosive attack hurling them away from him. Again, Katie fired the Flareon Battle Rifle, the second shot hitting him in the shoulder. Roaring in pain, Sporeking turned to face her, firing a barrage of Stun Spore towards her, the attack covering the red ranger, sending her to her knees unable to move because of it.

He had forgotten about the white ranger. Yet, as he felt the freezing cold ball of energy rake across his body several times, the force of the blow hurting him. Still, he knew that it was worth it, as the spores fell from his skin, covering the Ice Ball.

And, as soon as Paige reformed into her corporeal form, the white ranger collapsed to the ground in pain, the poison purging through her system.

* * *

"That's not good," Bill said, looking at the second monitor on his desk. At some point, he had rigged up a set of cardiographs to take note of the vital signs of the rangers in the field, using something that he had planted into the morphers. According to it, Katie was paralyzed, Paige was badly poisoned and the other rangers had been badly hurt by the previous attacks, those that had been designed to target their weak spots. "It's not even close to being good."

"I'd have to say that Paige is the biggest problem," Lance remarked. "Poison... She's been heavily weakened by it. As it stands, she's possibly too weak to summon the Toxic Armour, which could draw it out of the system."

"Bill, can you create an antidote?" Crane asked, suddenly looking worried. "Because... Maybe can you do it with the..."

"There's no time!" Bill exclaimed. "I have no idea what the poison is. I'd need a sample of the stuff that's going to kill her."

Both he and Lance turned back to look at the screen, seeing Sporeking hurl Luke back against a wall before lulling him to sleep with the attack that bore part of his name.

When they turned back, Crane was gone.

* * *

"Well well well... It has been a while."

Opening his eyes, Crane found himself in the Time Hole. As he looked around, slightly startled by the sudden and unexpected use of teleportation. He had recognised it, yet hadn't been prepared for it. The room hadn't changed since he had last been here, however long ago it had been. He couldn't remember, but as he faced Dorlinda, something twinged in him.

He couldn't help but walk over and hug the Lord of Time, Dorlinda slightly surprised by what had just happened.

"Miss me?" he asked. "You don't call, you don't write..."

"I was... Busy."

"Chasing Dark Spectres around?" Dorlinda wondered. "Not that I'm sure the effort isn't appreciated, but I can't help but wonder..."

"They're gone," Crane answered. "Took care of them all. With a little help."

"I'm sure they all appreciate your offer," the Lord of Time replied. "Although, they could use it now. Poison. Paralysis... Injuries."

"What do you know about that Sporeking thing?"

"What don't I know?" Dorlinda answered. "Those spores... They shouldn't be here. They shouldn't exist in this time frame. They start to appear in a swamp in Sinnoh nearly four thousand years from now. They're used as the basis for a chemical weapon in several minor disputes..."

"Actually, I think I've heard of it actually," Crane said, softly. "Doesn't it get used in a war between Earth and..."

"Don't know, can't tell you," the Lord of Time replied. "I've got to hand it to you. I don't know what you are, but I know what you aren't. It's a good facade."

"What are you...?"

Cutting him off, Dorlinda reached into his pocket and brought out a huge vial of purple liquid, along with a dartgun.

"Antidote!" he snapped. "Means to apply it. Now, this is going to help your stricken friends out. The question is, how bad do you want it?"

"You planted those spores in that basement? Where Ryan and Xavier found them!" Crane yelled, almost apoplectic with rage. "You..."

"I didn't, I would like to know," Dorlinda said, smoothly. "They shouldn't have been here, but their use has put me in a very strong situation."

"If you didn't put them here, then who did? Another Lord of Time?" Crane asked, momentarily distracted by the puzzle.

"Could have been. Problem is, there are only six Lord's of Time now. Including myself and my brother. There were quite a few more to start with, it could have been one of those who died..." Dorlinda mused, before taking back his more business-like demeanour. "Anyway, I have something that you want, you have something that I want..."

"You're blackmailing me?"

"If you want to call it that, I personally find it such an ugly term," the Lord of Time replied, darkly. "Now, it's not normally something I would do, not to one of my friends..."

He paused, looking Crane up and down with an even darker look.

"... But, since you're not the real Crane Edwards, I don't feel guilty about it."

* * *

Down on the ground, afflicted with pain and agony, the rangers were unable to get up and face the rampaging Sporeking. Pleased with his victory, the mutant was swaggering around the area, taunting them with well-thought out insults and jibes.

"This really was an easy task," he said, leaping up and down in joy. "I heard that you all were tough. You're actually a bit of joke."

He continued on, strutting around them like they weren't there.  
"The high and mighty Poké Rangers, these master villain stoppers. Come onto the scene and spoil our fun! You're not stopping this one! I am going to beat you!"

Even as he let out the taunt, the seven rangers it. Something that he didn't, Crane racing across the ground behind Sporeking, the weapon he had gotten from Dorlinda in hand.

Pulling the trigger, a dart shot out of the barrel of the weapon, racing through the air to catch the turning mutant in the eye, Sporeking instantly screeching in pain as the antidote began to race through his system, completely decimating it cell by cell.

"Still feel invincible?" the former ranger asked, throwing himself through the air to hit Sporeking with a kick to the face, throwing him back. "Because, you're not."

As Sporeking hit the ground, the other rangers stood up, the infective power that he had held over them previously, completely gone.

"Might want to finish them off," Crane said, looking around at them. "Softened him up for you."

Already, both Xavier and Katie were stepping forward, ready to take on the challenge.

"My turn to use this!" Xavier yelled, jumping up into the air. "Toxic Armour!"

Instantly, the armour began to appear, the silver helmet combining with the Cobra one, giving it a slight Arbok appearance, while the arms became covered in a silver armour, large blades emerging out from the gauntlets while spikes erupted across the knuckles. Finally, more armour appeared upon the legs, while more spikes emerged across the side and tip of the boots.

"Grah!" Sporeking howled, already running towards the blue ranger. "That won't make any difference!"

His claws came flashing out towards Xavier, only for the blue ranger to block them with the blades on his arm. As a toxic cloud fell from Sporeking's body, it landed on the sharp weapons, covering them almost completely. And in that moment, they began to glow with a bright purple energy.

"Powering up!" Xavier yelled, punching the mutant back away from him. Just far enough to allow him to swipe out. "Toxic Slash!"

Already in motion, he swung out several times with the glowing blades, each strike dealing a considerable amount of damage to the mutant. Grimacing in pain, Sporeking staggered back as Katie began to run towards him.

"And now it's my turn!" the red ranger shouted. "Hunter Glider!"

As the vehicle in question came swooping down, Katie leaped up into the air to secure herself in. Her morpher glowing with a red light, light that transformed into energy that washed over and across her, soon metamorphising into flames. Flames that quickly faded away, as the transformation began. The red energy at her morpher spreading out across her body, she momentarily transformed into a living rendition of a Charizard. Similar to the way that she did when morphing into her Zord form, it only lasted for a second before she returned back to ranger form. Only with some new armour visible, the Charizard's head remaining, her helmet within its mouth with the rest of the face surrounding it. The wings of the Hunter Glider became part of her body, taking on the constitution of Charizard wings. Under her suit, her muscles grew larger, while a cream coloured oval formed on her stomach. Across her chest, a metallic silver band came across, while her gloves and boots hardened and grew claws at the end. The claws on her gloves extended out over her fingers as she landed and took a fighting stance. Within seconds, she was streaking through the air towards Sporeking, grabbing her arms around him. After the antidote that Crane had shot into him, she wasn't worried about being affected by the impotent spores that fell from his body as she dragged him up into the air.

Despite his protests and his struggles, she began to pick up speed, flying around in circles until she was confident that her maximum speed had been reached before starting to descend again, the effect of gravity increasing her already rapid movement, before she smashed Sporeking into the ground, the huge impact of the blow causing Sporeking's body to explode.

* * *

Even as Dennis and Arbok looked at each other, both resigned to realisation that the same fate had befallen Sporeking as all their other plans, the ball of white light erupted from the Genesis Book, rising up into the ceiling of their hideout before vanishing away through a crack.

"Maybe this time will be different," Arbok muttered, folding his arms.

* * *

Back at the battlefield, none of the rangers were surprised as the ball of energy came down, its light covering the remains of Sporeking before reforming him to send him growing to a giant size.

"Guess he wasn't going to stay down," Xavier commented. "Anyone else want to call it? Time to transform!"

At the blue ranger's command, the original six rangers morphed into their Eevee forms, the giant Eevee evolutions all readying themselves for the next stage of transformation.

"Overload Zords! Megazord formation!"

Under the command, the six Zords turned into their robot forms and began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbs and tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. Standing up, it took up a fighting stance, facing Sporeking.

* * *

Back down on the ground, Paige gave an order of her own.

"Double Team!"

As she split into three versions of herself, it didn't take long for her to give out another order, one that would enable her to join in the fight.

"North Wind Megazord!"

At the command, the three figures grew, before transforming, the replicants into a Froslass and a Dewgong, while the original white ranger transformed into a Glaceon. Next, the three giant Pokémon shifted into robot forms and began to move into formation. The Froslass rotating upside down, its head shifting up to form feet, before it split in half. The bottom part of the Zord rising up to connect to the bottom of the Glaceon whose front limbs rose out in front of it to form some chest armour. The rear legs joining with the tip of the split Froslass. The Glaceon's head rose up to form the head of the Megazord, while the Dewgong split in half down the middle. The upper body and head going to form the left arm, while the bottom half of the body and the tail moved to the right arm.

Across from her, the Overload Megazord had brought out the Genesis Blaster and was firing a Psybeam attack away at Sporeking, the blast doing some decent damage. Not hesitating, she hit the buttons needed to come in with an attack of her own.

"Wind Blaster!"

Responding to her shout, the right arm broke up, the Dewgong's tail already spinning around to fire a burst of freezing cold wind towards Sporeking, the blast forcing him back.

"Nice to have you back in the game!" Duo shouted, the black ranger looking across to the North Wind Megazord. "What took you so long?"

"Just so many distractions," she answered, going to give another command. "Ice Breaker!"

Already in motion, the Dewgong head of the North Wind Megazord broke up, crashing into Sporeking's face, the mutant already howling in pain at the severe bruising that was starting to rise up across his skin.

"Psycho Thunder Strike!" both Luke and Nahir shouted, the purple and yellow rangers giving their orders. In response, the Overload Megazord brought both hands up, unleashing a mixed blast of electric and psychic type energy towards Sporeking, the combination attack causing even more damage to him.

"That's good, but it needs improvement!" Xavier yelled. "Think we're going to need some more fire power!"

"And, there's only one place we're going to get that," Ryan said, shaking his head. "We need it right now!"

"Dialga Carrier!" Katie yelled, the seven rangers looking over the horizon ready for the sight of the huge Carrierzord to appear, waiting for it to show up and aid them in their fight against the foe.

It didn't disappoint, the Dialga-shaped machine rolling onto the scene, a mechanical roar emerging from the mouth.

"Genesis Ultrazord!"

At the command, the two Megazord's instantly began to disassemble. The Zords converting back into their robot forms, the back of the Dialga Carrier opened up. It didn't take long for the Zords to rush inside, the Flareon and Umbreon going in first, followed by the Vaporeon and Leafeon. Then the Jolteon and Espeon came on in, while the Glaceon brought up the rear. As the hatch at the back slammed shut, the seven Zords began to power up the Dialga Carrier. The Zord bursting into life, the eyes began to glow with a bright red energy. Within moments, the seven rangers materialised inside the cockpit up in the head of the machine.

"Eep!" Sporeking groaned, suddenly realising how futile his situation had become. "This is bad."

"You've got no idea how bad," Katie said, hitting the buttons in front of her. "Ready to do this, guys?"

"Oh yeah!" Xavier yelled. "Hit it!"

"Lock on and fire!" Ryan shouted, contributing to the action. "Now!"

"Rainbow Fury Blast!" the seven shouted, the mouth of the Dialga Carrierzord already opening up to fire out a seven coloured beam of energy, the blasts shooting from the mouth with incredible force.

Within moments, Sporeking was completely destroyed by the blast, his remains vaporised from sight, along with the deadly spores that had contributed to his creation.

"Chalk another one up to the rangers!" Nahir shouted, leaning over to high five Luke. "We rule!"

* * *

"No more playing nice!" Dennis growled, banging his fist into the table. "To beat them, we're going to have to take it up another level. We need something... Something different. New."

"A new perspective on the situation?" Arbok asked. "Well, there is something, isn't there? All of us have failed. Us. Noland. Jake. Harley. Copper. We need something new."

"I know," his boss replied. "I've already put the call in. Our specialist will soon be on his way here..."

* * *

"Another one bites the dust!" Ryan yelled, as the seven of them walked into the bridge, finding their three friends all stood around one of the tables, examining the trophy that Luke and Duo had won in the golf tournament about a week earlier. "Or the spores as this case may be. As Nahir said... We rule."

"I think what she meant is that she rules," Luke offered, grinning down at her. "And the rest of us are just average."

His response was a joking punch in the ribs as she took the comment lightly, the two of them quickly moving into a hug to the amusement of the other rangers.

"Think I'm never going to get used to that sight," Xavier remarked, turning around to see Bill giving the group a huge manic grin of joy, the PokéManiac almost bouncing up and down on the spot.

"I think I've unlocked the secret of the trophy!" Bill exclaimed, looking around at them with glee. "How awesome am I? There are words around the rim, too small for the naked eye to see..."

"If you were that awesome, you'd have done it sooner," Luke grumbled, quietly, before speaking up. "What's happening with it?"

"Observe," the PokéManiac replied, reading aloud from the magnified words around the rim of the trophy, his intonation pitch perfect. "Ortari... Utpi... Sekriy..."

Even as he was speaking, the trophy started to glow with the purest of white energy, the rangers all watching with interest at what was happening.

"... Chasri... Takuwk... Molink..."

At this point of his speech, the white energy was starting to move away from the cup, forming a small portal in the middle of the room.

"... Yaakliat... Witrypo... Ortari!"

He yelled the final word out at the top of his voice, the portal instantly reacting to the shout as it stretched open to its full size, easily large enough to allow a person through.

"Guess the door is open!" Lance yelled, the sound of a howling gale audible on the other side of the mystical gate. "Might as well walk through it!"

Without hesitating, the seven rangers looked at each other before hurling themselves through the portal, all seven of them vanishing through it before the portal closed behind them, leaving Crane, Lance and Bill alone on the bridge.

Barely a second passed before Crane raised his hand.

"Anyone else feel left out when this happens?" he asked, softly.

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**So... What's beyond the portal? You'll have to wait and find out.**

**Seems I may have made too many references to Poké Rangers Bandstand in here... Might be withdrawal symptoms, heh. What with the Xavier and Ryan stuff, as well as the mention of Amy.**

**To be honest, it mainly just answers the question about what happened to Pura/Amy after the events of G-Force. In case anyone hasn't read Bandstand and was wondering. Either way, I'm sure it wasn't necessary. But, it's in there now.**

**Thanks for the reviews! All appreciated! Whoop whoop.**

**What did Dorlinda mean in his comment to Crane. And what did Crane reply... That would be telling...**

**At least the Ultrazord was busted out again. Only ten episodes after it made its reappearance. Ironically, there are ten episodes until the end of this...**

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review. Please... Arbok is replying to this episode.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Forty Two, Shades Of Infinity, preview.**

**?: You want this artefact?**

**Katie: More than anything.**

**Duo: You have no idea what we've gone through to get this far.**

**?: Tell me.**

**Nahir: What?**

**?: Tell me your tales. Impress me.**

**Ryan: This is disturbing.**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	42. Shades Of Infinity

Chapter Forty Two. Shades Of Infinity.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_With the Syodian Rangers and the Dark Spectres behind them, Xavier and Ryan took some time out by clearing the basement of a friend of Ryan's cousin, only to discover some strange spores. With both of them interested in what they were and where they had come from, they took them to a Professor at the University in Holimar City, only for Dennis and Arbok to get hold of them and use the spores to create Sporeking. As the mutant went on the attack, he easily defeated the rangers with his bag of tricks, forcing Dorlinda to step in with the revelation that Crane might not be who everyone thinks he is. With Sporeking destroyed, Dennis revealed that he had put a call in for some extra help, while Bill discovered the secret of the trophy that Luke and Duo had won in the golf tournament, a portal transporting the rangers to somewhere else..._

_

* * *

_

"... Yaakliat... Witrypo... Ortari!"

He yelled the final word out at the top of his voice, the portal instantly reacting to the shout as it stretched open to its full size, easily large enough to allow a person through.

"Guess the door is open!" Lance yelled, the sound of a howling gale audible on the other side of the mystical gate. "Might as well walk through it!"

Without hesitating, the seven rangers looked at each other before hurling themselves through the portal, all seven of them vanishing through it before the portal closed behind them, leaving Crane, Lance and Bill alone on the bridge...

... Only to reappear what felt like several seconds later in a place completely unknown to them. On the surface, it could have been any regular chamber throughout the Pokémon world, yet as they examined the larger room more closely, they could feel something strange within it, something that any of them couldn't quite explain. In the middle of the room, they could see a large stone plinth with a strange glass orb atop it. The walls of the room were blank grey stone...

... And the only other sight worthy of note within the room was a sleeping figure at the back of the room, a newspaper across their face which rose up and down as they snored.

"Want to bet that guy is who we're here to see?" Nahir asked, shaking her head. "Because..."

"There's nobody else here," Ryan commented. "That would make a certain amount of sense."

"Oi, moron!" Luke yelled, almost screaming at the sleeping figure. "Wake up, we need to talk to you!"

That got a reaction, the newspaper fell to the ground to reveal a woman waking up, her hands raising up to check her hair. She was wearing a white blouse, black skirt and high heels, as well as a black leather jacket.

"Greetings," she replied, adjusting the glasses she wore. "I am Ortari. What can I do for you?"

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. Crane appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefacts. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Dark Spectres hover above Coppinger mutant monsters._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord, North Wind Megazord and Silent Strike Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

"Riiiight," Xavier said, taking a step back. "Ortari... Your name was mentioned several times on the trophy... We just never made the connection until now."

"That was careless of you," Ortari commented, shaking her head. "Come on... Didn't it occur to you that since my name is mentioned more than once, it was probably relevant."

"Thought it might be the name of this place," Katie offered. "Because..."

"This?" Ortari asked, gesturing around at the chamber. "This is my Time Hole. My home, when I'm not out and about."

"Your Time Hole?" Duo wondered, voicing what the other rangers had all realised at the same time. "You... You're a Lord of Time."

"That's correct," Ortari replied. "And, I seem to know some of you from before. Xavier... Katie... Nahir... Luke. How've you been?"

She paused for a moment, examining them up for several seconds before speaking again.

"Technically, I would be a Lady of Time, but in this instance, the term carries no gender specific meaning. So, call me what you like. That's the first time that ever occurred to me."

"Wow," Nahir said, her voice soft in the chamber. "We've never met a female Lord of Time before..."

"Actually, we have..." Xavier started to point out. "The one who was in a relationship with Dorlinda... What was her name again?"

"Forsythia?" Katie asked, looking over at Ortari. "That right? You've got a better memory than us, I think... She was the one who nearly beat up Danni for hugging Dorlinda."

"Dorlinda?" Ortari asked, a slight smile playing across her coral lips. "It's been a long time since I saw him. How is he? Still alive and kicking? How's his brother?"

"He's fine, we don't know about Errol," Paige remarked. "Come to think of it, when was the last time you guys saw Errol?"

"When he made that tremendous gaffe helping Danni out," Luke replied, before reconsidering. "Actually, that's a lie. When we were transported to the past... When we helped create the Lords of Time."

"It was Forsythia, by the way," Ortari said, breaking the silence. "She and Dorlinda... They were very much in love. Until she died..."

At this point, Ryan cleared his throat, getting the attention back from everyone.

"As enlightening as this trip down memory lane is," he said. "Why are we here?

Even as he asked the question, Ortari made a big show of stroking her chin before a sarcastic look flickered across her face.

"Could it be for this?" she asked, holding up her hand.

* * *

"I can't find a trace of them anywhere," Bill announced, looking up from his console. "For all intents and purposes... They're gone. Just gone. Without a trace."

"This bodes problems," Lance mused. "Where could they be?"

"Has it not occurred to you yet?" Crane wondered, reaching over to pick up the trophy. "They're not in this realm of existence. Wherever they are, it's not here, not on Earth."

"Another dimension?" the Dragon Master asked. "If that's the case then what can we do to get them out of there?"

"Especially since the trophy didn't travel with them," Bill pointed out. "For all we know, it could have been a trap. It could have dropped them into a black hole, with no means of ever getting them back. This trophy may have been a misleading trick, designed to warn people off searching for the artefacts."

"Everything's could with you guys," Crane said, groaning. "I'll take care of it. I'll go check with a friend, see if he knows anything about it or what it does."

"Dorlinda?" Lance wondered. "Because, that's actually a sensible plan."

"Unfortunately, it is Dorlinda," Crane replied, letting his body drop back against the wall.

"Why unfortunately?" Bill wondered. "Thought he was an ally of ours."

"Last time I spoke to him... It wasn't the most amicable of chats."

* * *

They had only seen it for a second, but they knew what it was. A silver shard covered in a web of golden lines, the power emanating from it before Ortari closed her hand.

"You want this artefact?" she asked, holding her hand shut, none of them able to see anything other than the billows of light peeking out through the gaps in her fingers.

"More than anything," Katie quickly said. "It'd make our lives so much easier."

"You have no idea what we've gone through to get this far," Duo offered, quickly. "It's been chaos. Really. We've taken beatings, dealt some out... We've been to the future..."

"Tell me," Ortari replied, suddenly. "I'm interested."

"What?" Nahir asked. Everyone present could hear the shock and the surprise in her voice, again it was something that they had all felt but had been unable to get out fast enough to make the point themselves.

"Tell me your tales," Ortari repeated. "Impress me. I've know many warriors throughout my years, and most of them are overblown, overhyped fools. Each of you must have a story. A story of your valour, a story of how you overcame some sort of challenge. Be it defeating yourself and conquering your fears, standing up in the face of overwhelming danger or just an incredible feat of courage."

Taking a step down off her stone throne, she gestured to the item in the middle of the room, clicking her fingers once all eyes were upon it.

"This is disturbing," Ryan commented, all seven of them watching as the glass orb burst into life, a strange white smoke filling it up. "What is that thing?"

"That, Mr. Leopard, is a Display Memory Vision Modulator," Ortari answered. "You touch it, it shows what happened in full and vivid detail for all to see."

"So, we show you our trials and tribulations?" Xavier asked. "This is... How do we know you're on the level."

"You don't," Ortari replied, softly. "But, you can distrust me as much as you want, see where it gets you. At least, you might get somewhere if you put your trust in me."

"I think we might as well do this," Katie said. "If nothing else, it's our only chance. Where do we start?"  
"How about you start with how you got here," Ortari suggested. "How you all came together to..."

"Ooh, I've got a memory," Ryan said, moving over to the DMVM. "How do I... Do I just touch it and...?"

"Correct," she replied, watching him do so. "Now, let's see what you have."

* * *

_"Hey!" Luke exclaimed, looking up to the sights above them. Seeing the few remaining Dogbots stride towards him. Glancing around, he could see Xavier, Katie, Duo and Nahir all still down injured from the attacks that had been thrown at them. "Where'd everyone else go?"_

_"Didn't you see?" Nahir asked, caustically. "They got carried away!"_

_"We need to get out of here!" Katie yelled. "Desperately."_

_"Come on!" Duo said, trying to crawl away. "We have to..."_

_With the Dogbots still approaching them, a sudden explosion crashed out across the sky above them, smashing against a tree. As the startled robots looked up to see the source of the sound, the ground beneath the fallen rangers began to give way. A pair of powerful stony arms erupting out, pulling them down under the earth..._

_Returning their gaze down to the ground where the rangers had been seconds earlier, the Dogbots were only greeted with the sight of a hole._

_

* * *

_

_Choking up earth, the five remaining Poké Rangers found themselves being helped out of the ground by a familiar figure and his Rhydon. The rock type Pokémon growling away in pride at its effort. Its trainer, a teenager about the same age of them with blue eyes and blond messy hair. He was wearing a green jacket with a grey shirt, denim jeans and white sneakers. Around his neck, he wore a ying and yang necklace. Next to him, gasping for breath, was a Torterra._

_"Good job, Rhydon!" he exclaimed, patting the Pokémon on the neck. "You did it!"_

_"Ryan?" Katie asked, still groaning from the injuries she had suffered in the battle. "What are you... Are you really here?"_

_"Yeah, It's me," he said. Holding a Pokéball, he recalled his Rhydon. "Are you guys okay?"_

_"We've been better," Duo groaned. "Whoever you are."_

_"I'm Ryan," Ryan replied. "You know, she called me that a few minutes ago."_

_"What are you doing here?" Luke wondered. "Not that we don't appreciate the help."  
"I was doing some training with some new Pokémon that I caught," he said. "I'm just glad that I could help you guys. Is it really bad?"_

_

* * *

_

"That looks so much more painful when you see it back," Nahir commented. "Anyone want to think about how screwed we would have been there if you hadn't shown up."

The remark had been directed at Ryan, the green ranger shrugging graciously at the semi-compliment.

"I aim to please," he replied. "Although, you remember what came after that? When we got our powers and we took up the fight?"

"Let's see if I do," Nahir said, moving closer to him to press down on the DMVM with her hand, the glass slightly soft to her touch, softer than she had expected.

* * *

_"Since you choose to take upon this power, I bequeath it to you. Protect the Genesis Book, protect the world. This is your task. The power has already chosen you, its energy courses through your bodies. Now, do you accept this destiny?"_

_"We do," Xavier replied. "We have to."_

_"We cannot let Verger be destroyed," Katie said, seriously. "Not on our watch."_

_"Then, I will grant the full range to you," Clarence replied. "This task is now yours. If you'll step forward when I call your name, I shall give you the stones. Talk to Bill and Dorlinda. They'll be able to tell you how best to harness them for the power."_

_Reaching down to the table, picking up a green stone, he smiled at Ryan._

_"Mr. Ryan Leopard," he said. "Please step forward."_

_As he took several uncertain steps forward, Clarence held out his hand, the item quickly appearing within Ryan's hand._

_"Empathic and stubborn," Clarence said. "You are granted the power of the Green Leafeon Ranger. Take the Leaf Stone and wield the forces of nature."_

_"My pleasure to do so," Ryan replied, clutching the stone in his hand. A flash of green light erupting across him. Next, Clarence's eyes flashed across to Nahir._

_"Miss Nahir Moon," he intoned, reaching down to pick up a dark white stone with a yellow centre. "Please step forward."_

_As she did so, the item appeared in her hand. Just as it had done with Ryan, a flash of energy shot across her body, the only difference being that hers was yellow rather than green._

_"Fast and swift," Clarence remarked. "You are granted the power of the Yellow Jolteon Ranger. Take the Thunder Stone and feel the crackle of electricity in your veins."_

_"Yellow?" she asked. "Coolness. I'm honoured."_

_Smiling at her as she stepped back, Clarence turned his attention to Luke. Who instantly began to look shiftily back at him._

_"Mr. Luke Sunderland," he said, Luke already stepping forward. Without hesitating, he picked up a strange purple and orange stone that none of them had ever seen before. "Cunning and smart."_

_As the item appeared in his hand, Luke somehow managed to look humbled. Something that none of them had ever seen before._

_"You are granted the power of the Purple Espeon Ranger. Take the Sun Stone and prepare to use your mind like you never have before."_

_Taking a step back, a burst of purple light erupted up his body._

_"Thank you," Luke said, simply, as Clarence picked up a black stone and turned his attention over to Duo._

_"Mr. Duo Roronoa," he remarked. "Interesting. Most interesting."_

_"That's a great start," Duo quipped. "I'm flattered."_

_"Sneaky and mischievous," Clarence smiled. Both Nahir and Katie letting out sarcastic laughs at the comment, Duo turning around to shake his head at them. "As hard as present company finds it to disagree. You are granted the power of the Black Umbreon Ranger. Take the Dusk Stone and be one with the shadows."_

_"I'll do that with pleasure," Duo replied, taking the stone from the being. A black wave of energy passing across him, the teenager still grinning. "Thanks, Clarence."_

_"No problem," he said, as Duo stepped back. Next, his attention turned to Xavier, who instantly made to take a step forward. "Mr. Xavier Jackson."_

_"I'm here," Xavier replied, taking a step forward. "Ready and waiting."_

_"Fluid and powerful," Clarence commented, picking up a light blue stone from the table. "You are granted the power of the Blue Vaporeon Ranger. Take the Water Stone and let the power of the ocean be yours."_

_"Well, okay then," Xavier replied, grinning at him. "Thanks, pal."_

_As he stepped back, the blue light having passed across his body, Katie let out a gasp._

_"No way!" she exclaimed, shocked. "Really?"_

_"Miss Katie Myers," Clarence said, reaching down to pick up a flame red stone. "Despite your misgivings, the stones never lie. You have managed to pull this group of rangers through to this point. Because of your constant cajoling, you all are here."_

_"It was a team effort," she protested. "I mean..."_

_"I see all," Clarence insisted. "And I have seen the way that you've evolved up to this point. Fiery and passionate, despite all your associations with the water. I'm granting you the power of the Red Flareon Ranger. Take the Fire Stone and feel the burn."_

_"I can't believe it," Katie said, as the red energy erupted across her body. "I mean..."_

_"Heh," Xavier laughed. "We've swapped colours. How about that."_

_"Are you honestly sure about this?" Katie insisted, looking at Clarence. "I mean..."_

_"I like to think that I'm an excellent judge of character," he replied. "Anyway, it's not like you've not worn red before."_

_"I wore it once last year!" she exclaimed. "But, seriously..."_

_"Go on, Katie!" Nahir said. "We're all behind you."_

_"Quite literally," Luke offered. "But, yeah. I suppose that we'll..."_

_"Seems like we've gone full circle," Duo remarked, grinning. "Hell, I'll listen to you. Just for the sheer kick of it."_

_"Errr... Thanks," Katie replied. "So, how do we find the Coppingers?"_

_

* * *

_

"You're misunderstanding what it is I am after," Ortari said, her tone slightly impatient. "As much as these random acts of belligerence are, they're not quite..."

Again, the Lord of Time paused, trying to think through what it was she had meant to say.

"Not quite as personal as I was after. Not generic group action. The first one was on the money, the second one not so. Any more? Anything else that you have to show me?"

"I shall bite," Paige replied, stepping forward. Within seconds, she had her hand on the DMVM.

* * *

_Falling through the air, the eighty foot drop taking her by surprise. Something that she genuinely hadn't expected, the sudden landing quite literally taking her breath away for a second. Before her body began to spasm, the bones in her legs completely shattered by the fall. Screaming in pain, the blood erupted out of her throat, spattering out against her face. Suddenly feeling so warm against her cooling skin._

_"No," she whispered, seeing the Overload Megazord vanish away over the side of the platform. "No! No!"_

_The effort from the shouts taking over her broken body for the moment, she began to choke and cough under the effort. It hurt to move at all, her only option to remain still and wait for the inevitable. The screeching crouch of the plane behind her, moving ever closer across the steel of the platform, the smoke from its burning wings entering her nostrils._

_And then, it all stopped around her. The continuous screech seeming to halt in the middle of its rake, a sudden voice cutting through her pain._

_"Dear dear dear," it said, softly. The loss of blood through her wounds blurring her senses so that she couldn't tell anything about it. Even if it was male or female. "You are in a bit of a pickle. Careless of you to fall."_

_Wanting so much to reply angrily, to make a point about how it hadn't been her intention, she was only able to muster up a choke in response._

_"Yet, you have a connection to them," the voice commented. "You still have a part to play in this yet. If you want it. Let's see... I can offer you a second chance. Or, you can go off into the sweet release of death. Give the fight up, away from all the hassle. I can see that you're in a lot of pain, so if you want the first option, cough once. If it's the latter, then cough twice."_

_Instantly letting out a single cough, Paige tried to clear her throat for another. Just wanting it over, but her throat was in so much pain..._

_"Very well," the voice said, a white light erupting out across her body. All the pain, all the agony, all the conscious thought melting away..._

_

* * *

_

_"So, you're a ranger," Bill commented, looking at Paige. "Does that mean that you're corporeal again?"_

_"That was a side effect," Clarence clarified. "She never was a ghost. Just that when that explosion acted as a catalyst for my trapping her in the NeverMeltIce, her ability became stuck on. Since she didn't know this, she was unable to respond to it."_

_"I'm solid again," she said. "Have been ever since Alastor zapped me and I returned. But, I've still been keeping the charade up for..."_

_"Yeah, but what we still don't get is why you would do that," Ryan said. "Come on, we want an explanation."_

_"As you know, I gave the six artefacts to the six of you," Clarence remarked, looking across each ranger individually. "But, I kept hold of the NeverMeltIce. None of you... Well, I wanted to see how you would cope without the need for it. I didn't know who I would give it to at that precise time. But, when I saw what happened to Miss Martinez, I made a conscious choice to step in. To see if she was suitable. When I saw that she was, the NeverMeltIce responding to her, I trapped her in it. This you already know. But, what I didn't know was that the stress would force her ability on. Her incorporeality..."_

_"How's that related to having a Glaceon as a source of power by the way?" Nahir wondered. "I mean, we all got abilities that relate to..."_

_"Icy Wind," Clarence said, simply. "That's the..."_

_"But, wind can't pass through solid objects," Duo remarked. "So..."_

_"It can if there are cracks in them," the Conduit said, slightly snappily at him. "Anyway, don't worry about it. Where was I? Oh yes, her incorporeality. As already said, she soon started to discover that she could affect the environment around her... When Alastor zapped her... Okay, right. The stress of spending that long as a ghost... If I'd immediately given her the full powers off the bat on a permanent basis, it could have destroyed her physical form forever. I gave it back to her, managing to switch the permanent ability off, if you like. She did keep the ability in that form, only to be used for the purposes of fooling you. You remember the challenges that I sent you on? The Lord of Time Construct, to help each of you master your powers and prove that you were ready for the morphing ability?"_

_"We were her test?" Katie asked. "To see if she could keep the secret from us?"_

_

* * *

_

"Hmmm..." Ortari mused, bringing her slender fingers up to stroke her chin. "I suppose that is courage. A certain type of courage... The ability to keep a secret for the greater good. Bravo, White Warrior. Miss Martinez. I salute you for that."

"What about the rest of us?" Luke asked, glancing over at her. "We've all got stories. How we did in our hunt for artefacts..."

"What did you ever do?" Nahir wondered, a little scornfully. "Because..."

Not hesitating, the purple ranger walked over to touch the DMVM, a determined look on his face.

"I fought," he replied. "You could say it was against impossible odds..."

* * *

_"Hey, Alastor!"_

_Instantly reacting to the sound of the challenge, the angel turned to regard them with scant concern. Not seeming to be interested with the threat that they posed._

_"This guy's really annoying me," Ryan muttered, cracking his knuckles. "I mean..."_

_"Are you going to annoy me all evening?" Alastor asked, passively. "Because, it is going to get very old very quickly."_

_"You've taken something that we want back," Katie replied. "Not the artefacts, but rather Nahir. It's not healthy what you're doing to her."_

_"I don't care," the angel said. "She's mine now. If you want her back, you better come and get her."_

_"If that's the way it has to be," Luke replied. "Then that's the way that it has to be."_

_Without hesitating, the five of them brought their weapons out. Instantly rushing towards Alastor, the angel barely looking to prepare against the oncoming assault. As Katie fired both Heat Blasters towards him, he seemed to bend back, just out of reach of the attack. The red ranger slowing up her run for the moment, Xavier, Luke, Duo and Ryan got past her. Making to attack with their weapons, Alastor turned his attention to them. Ryan got there first, taking a vicious swipe out at him with the Fauna Hammer. Without even blinking, Alastor directed Nahir's body into taking a step back away from the blow, the hammer sailing up out into the air. As Ryan tried to recover, Alastor hit him with a spin kick, the green ranger flying back through the air. Next, Duo took several swipes at him with the Shadow Sabre, the angel easily blocking them with Nahir's arms. The metal blade bouncing off the pale skin, the grin quickly being shot at the black ranger. Annoyed at the show of casual disregard, Duo went on the attack again. This time Alastor grabbing him by the throat and tossing him back. As the black ranger landed on his back, both Xavier and Luke came in with their weapons, trying to attack together. Only for Alastor to bring both arms up and stop the attacks mid-strike. Twisting them away, the blue and purple rangers were thrown to the ground, the angel hurling their weapons back at them. Finally, Katie came into the scene, throwing a pair of spin kicks towards the angel. Alastor evading both of them, continuing to do so as more attacks came in onto him. Biding his time, he finally saw the red ranger make a split second break. Throwing out a punch into her helmet, the angel watched Katie fly back through the air. Hitting the ground about ten feet in front of him._

_"Unimpressive," he remarked, making the spookily eerie gesture of folding Nahir's arms. Something that the grounded rangers had seen many times before, a sign of frustration. "Yet, I feel that you're going to be a problem. You're not going to give up, so I guess that leaves me just one..."_

_

* * *

_

"Bit generic..." Ortari remarked, the Lord of Time shaking her head. "Not really... It's suicidal bravery, I like that tale, but do you have anything more personal?"

"Well, there was the time I defeated my evil twin..."

* * *

_"Everything's fine," Luke said, barely paying attention. "If you hear anything in my office, just ignore it. It's just some business that might need attending to. Could be a violent meeting with..."_

_"Your business, Mr. Sunderland," the office worker replied. "Unless we hear screams, we won't..."_

_"Yeah, probably not a good idea," Luke said. "Even if it's me doing the screaming."_

_Pushing on down the corridor, he placed his hand on the door handle. Moving it open, he forced his way into the room. Shutting the door behind him..._

_... Only for something to come barreling into him from the left, tackling him down to the ground. Grunting in pain, Luke tried to force the figure off him. Bringing his knee up into the stomach of the figure, it immediately let out a yell of pain._

_"Okay, I give!" the other version of Luke complained. "I'm not here to hurt you. Rather the opposite actually. Just give me a moment and listen..."_

_"So, you're a version of me from the future?" Luke asked, glancing at the other him. "Wait, how does that work?"_

_"As far as I can guess, when Claxtu scratched you, the impacts of the Future Sight created me," Future Luke replied. "Your appearance, but I'm sorta... mixed. I've got the memories of what you did this morning, but also what I was doing after the fight ended. About a decade's worth of memories jumbled in, and not in any real order. Just stuff that's relevant. I'm an anomaly in creation. There's probably a version of me in the future carrying on what I was doing which is a relief because I don't want to be responsible for crashing the whole thing. Which I don't know what, I don't remember what I was doing. It's kinda hazy. All I see is a Meowth monster and my SDI morpher."_

_

* * *

_

"That's more like it," Ortari said, softly. "A little less violent than I expected, but still conflict and intrigue. In the end, I suppose that's what we can all be grateful for."

* * *

"Interesting," Dorlinda commented, looking across at Crane with an interested expression. "You require my help twice in the space of three hours. Most interesting and impressive. Interesting is the puzzle, impressive that you came back after last time."

"I am the real Crane!" Crane yelled, almost screaming with frustration. "How can I prove it to you? Name it, and..."

Without hesitating, the Lord of Time held up a very familiar morpher, the one that Crane had worn while the leader of the G-Force team.

"You know what to do," he said, tossing it over to the former red ranger in an underarm throw, Crane catching it fairly easily. "Put it on. If you are who you claim to be, it'll reactivate with your DNA."

Rolling his eyes at having to go through the charade, Crane immediately slipped the strap over his wrist and sealed it shut, before holding it up to the light for Dorlinda to see. A series of blinking red lights proving that the item was reactivating into life.

"You want me to summon the Fires of Time?" Crane demanded. "Or, is that proof enough?"

"Hmmm..." Dorlinda mused. "That's most remarkable. You know why it needed reactivating? Do you...?"

"I can't possibly..."

"Because you died," the Lord of Time hissed. "I was there on your deathbed, I held your hand as you passed on. It's impossible that you're here."

"Dorlinda, can you keep a secret?"

* * *

"Anyone else have an example of how they overcame such conflict?" Ortari asked, looking across the group of rangers. Without hesitating, Xavier stepped forward.

"I have one," he replied, moving over to the DMVM, before clamping his hand down on it.

* * *

_"Everything okay, Mr. Jackson?" he asked. "You look a little nervous."_

_"Suppose I am," he replied. "Really really nervous."_

_"Well, I can imagine why," the man remarked, striding into the room. His body changing into that of Raltorsneak. "It's not every day that you're about to reveal your secret on TV."_

_"Let me guess," Xavier retorted, taking up a fighting stance. "You're the asshole who did this to me."_

_"Guilty," he replied. "Couldn't help but take the chance opportunity to swing by and say hello."_

_"Then, that's the mistake that you'll never make again," Xavier roared, jumping forward to attack. Desperate to try and strike out at the monster, Raltorsneak grabbing him by the leg and twisting him to the ground._

_"That's not in the script," he commented. "You're supposed to..."_

_Jumping up from the prone position, Xavier hit him in the face. The monster letting out a frustrated snarl of anger_

_"Supposed to what?" the blue ranger said, sarcastically. "Come on, take it like a monster!"_

_Without hesitating, Raltorsneak brought up his arm, the skin glowing with a bright blue light. Throwing Xavier back through the air, he let out another growl._

_"Knocking you down a couple of pegs might be enjoyable," he remarked. "Nothing like a few bruises to add authenticity for your story."_

_"You're forgetting one thing," Xavier shot back. "I destroy you, we'll see what happens!"_

_Bringing his morpher up, he couldn't help but smirk at the monster._

_"Genesis Overload!"_

_Morphing into his suit, he threw out another fighting stance. Ready to battle against the threat in front of him._

_"This shall make no difference," Raltorsneak said, dismissively._

_

* * *

_

_"Okay, where do you think this thing is?" Ryan asked, the other five rangers walking into the back of the studio. "And, can we...?"_

_Right on cue to interrupt him, a flailing Xavier came crashing through a window above the stage. Crashing to the ground, groaning in pain. Everyone else in the studio looking up to see what was going on up in the air. Their curiousity turning to fear as Raltorsneak began to float down through the air, laughing at them._

_"Guess we've found what we were looking for," Nahir said. "Anyway, excuse me one moment."_

_Turning to go back the way she had came, she darted through the door. Returning back several seconds later, a computer disc in her hand. Snapping it in half, she dropped the remains to the ground and looked at the other rangers. Seeing their looks of surprise._

_"What?"_

_"Want to explain that?" Duo wondered._

_"Later," she replied, folding her arms. "Anyway, are we going to..."_

_"Need to get people out of here," Katie said, spotting a fire alarm in front of them. Bringing her hand up, she directed an intense wave of heat towards it. Instantly setting the thing off, the watching masses starting to file out of the studio._

_Across on the stage, Xavier had managed to get to his feet and was circling the monster in front of him. Both of them ready to strike at a moments notice, their eyes focused on each other. Deciding to act first, the blue ranger brought his Genesis Blaster up, firing several times at the monster. The large hands came up, deflecting the shots up into the ceiling, damaging several lights above them. Using the moment, Xavier darted in and struck out with a roundhouse kick. The blow staggering Raltorsneak, the monster reacting faster by throwing the blue ranger back with a Psychic attack. As the last of the watching audience began to file on out, the other rangers came over to help him up._

_

* * *

_

"That has elements of everything," Ortari said, smiling at the blue ranger. "Most impressive."

"I aim to please. Though, I've never been pleased to aim..." Xavier answered, before reconsidering. "... At my enemies."

* * *

"That's an interesting story..." Dorlinda said, managing to get over his temporary stunned silence, eventually. "... However, I fail to see the reason that you are keeping it secret. Surely, if you told your friends about it, they would understand. That's why they are your friends. It's not the worst thing in the world... The way I see it is that you're not going to affect the future, it's happened."

"That's not all though, didn't you...?"

"Just avoid revealing that part," the Lord of Time suggested. "Crane, now I know the truth, I don't think any less of you and who you are. So, on that note, what can I do for you?"

Shaking his head, remembering why it was that he had shown up, the former ranger held up the trophy for Dorlinda to see.

"Congratulations, although using your abilities to win a trophy might seem a little... Unsporting."

"I didn't win it," Crane answered. "It was Luke. And Duo. All I can say is that there's some sort of Genesis signature on it... And some writing. When Bill spoke it aloud, it opened up a portal, a portal leading to who knows where."  
"And, this is why you came here?"

"Yes," Crane replied, softly. "Any chance that you can find out where it went?"

Not hesitating, Dorlinda reached out to take the trophy, already examining it as it passed into his hands.

"Anything about the incantation?"

"Seemed like your standard verbal slack. A bunch of random words strung together... Apart from one," Crane commented, remembering back to what it had been. "Ortari."

"Ortari?" Dorlinda repeated, a little surprised. "That's interesting."

"Interesting how?"  
"She's a Lord of Time," he replied. "Lady of Time, whatever you want to call her..."

"Then, you can presumably get in touch with her?"  
"I would," Dorlinda said, his voice lowering slightly. "But, there's a slight issue with that. She's dead. Died in 1764 after being accidentally hit during a duel between two noblemen in Ecruteak City... She was shot."

* * *

"Who is next?" Ortari asked, smiling around at the group of rangers. "Anyone else want to volunteer their services. Show me your memories..."

"I'll go," Duo offered, shrugging his shoulders. "If nothing else, it should be quite an experience for you guys. Seeing what goes on inside my head."

"Shoot me now," Luke muttered. "Because... That's the easy option."

"Two instances spring to mind," the black ranger offered. "One when... Know what, it's easier to show you."

* * *

_Slowly opening his eyes, Duo found himself laid on the stone cold ground. After pushing the door open, he had passed out. He should have been in the Pokémon Centre... He probably was in the Pokémon Centre, there were some traces of the building design in there. The rest of it was completely different, resembling some sort of gothic tomb. Complete with a stone grave in the middle, the lid opened up. Unable to stop himself from taking a morbid step forward, he began to move towards it. Looking down to the occupant of the tomb, revulsion turning to fear and surprise as he recognised the figure inside._

_"But...," he said, taking an involuntary step back. "That's me..."_

_"Soon, it will be you."_

_Looking around, he saw a strange black coated figure walking across the ground towards him, a mask the same colour as his coat masking his face. A black hat completing the attire, something telling Duo that this guy was trouble._

_"What are you...?"_

_"This tomb will become your grave," the figure continued. "Soon, I shall have the pleasure of watching your last breaths."_

_"Crap," Duo said, looking at the figure in the front of him. "What the hell are you?"_

_"It's time for your judgement," he continued. "Feel the darkness surround you!"_

_"Nobody talks like that!" the black ranger shot back, bringing his wrist up. "None of this is real. So, this means I can kick your ass. Genesis Overload!"_

_Morphing into his black ranger suit, he flung himself out through the air, desperate to land a blow on whatever was causing the illusions. Much to his surprise, he hit the solid figure, knocking it back against a wall. Its arm flying out, knocking a tree over that in turn knocked a giant coffee pot over off the counter. The item shattering on the ground, a strange white energy billowing out of it._

_That was when the entire illusion around him vanished. Revealing the two of them to be back in the Pokémon Centre from earlier, several startled patrons looking around at them._

_"No!" the figure yelled. "The inducer."_

_"This is street theatre at its finest," Duo quipped, realising that the thing in front of him was one of the Coppingers from the aerial platform. Not that it was an easy comparison to make, the thing having mutated since the last time he'd seen it. "What happened to you? Because you're suffering from a severe case of ugly-itis."_

_"Watch your tongue, boy," he snapped. "Someone might rip it out."_

_"Someone might," the black ranger replied, sarcastically. "Although, it probably won't be you."_

_Bringing his foot back, Jake kicked out at Duo, the black ranger tripping to the ground under the attack. Without hesitating, the Coppinger mutant instantly ran for the door, Duo jumping up to go after him. Spinning around to look for a way of stopping him from the pursuit, Jake quickly saw a Mightyena growling at him. The dark type Pokémon almost on the verge of jumping on him in anger._

_"That'll do!" he roared, throwing out a hand towards the black Pokémon. "Feel the wrath of the darkness."_

_

* * *

_

"Hmmm... And the next one?" Ortari asked, raising a perfectly manicured eyebrow away at the black ranger. "Since you so calmly claim to have two."

"That was quite enlightening actually," Nahir said. "Especially since none of us saw it, we were too busy hearing Luke wonder about the life of a looter."

* * *

_"I've got another offer for you. One that is good value."_

_Turning at the challenge, Octomius saw Duo stood on the rooftop across from him, an arrogant look on his face._

_"How about you let them go and crawl back to the hole that you came from, and I won't destroy you!"_

_"That's your offer?" the Slaver asked, incredulously. "Forget it. I only deal in credits. I should take you right now for your pathetic attempt at diplomacy."_

_"You think I'm being diplomatic?"_

_"Your species thinks that it can talk its way out of trouble with words," Octomius remarked, shaking his head in disgust. "All the same. Think I am going to take you, it'll give me great pleasure selling you."_

_"Alright then," Duo yelled, as the weapon came up. "Let's see how good you are! Hit me!"_

_"I never miss!" Octomius retorted. "Your attempts to goad me are futile."_

_"You might never miss," Duo replied. "But even you can't hit what you cannot see!"_

_"What?"_

_Even as Octomius registered his belligerent shock at the taunt, Duo vanished from sight. Turning himself completely invisible._

_"What the...?"_

_Completely out of the blue, a punch hit him in the side of the face. Bringing his weapon up, Octomius fired in the direction that it had came from, the blast sailing miles wide of hitting anything._

_"Missed me!" the black ranger taunted, momentarily reappearing at the opposite end of the roof. "You couldn't hit a Miltank with a banjo!"_

_Vanishing again, he saw Octomius spin and blast away at the space where he had been. Duo, of course, already having moved away. Hurling himself forward, he kicked the creature in the other side of the face this time. Again the blasts came in, again he hurled himself away._

_"You're starting to annoy me," the Slaver growled. "Don't think that I won't..."_

_This time, Duo hit him from behind. And, as Octomius fell forward, the black ranger swept in and grabbed the sack up off his belt. Despite the angry protestations of the creature, the black ranger quickly ran to the edge of the building and began to empty the contents over the side._

_

* * *

_

"Bravo, Mr. Roronoa," she said, offering him a smile. "You have proved yourself to be most masterful in the arts of combat. Bravery. Courage. Valor... I would have to salute you, if this was any other time. Unfortunately, time is of the essence, so... Next!"

"I'll step up," Nahir offered, moving away towards the DMVM, a nervous grin on her face. "A touch memory for me, it really forced me to test my resolve to the max. I really had to keep strong, and not break down, otherwise it would have been over."

"Get on with it!" Duo muttered, slightly irritably.

* * *

_Looking up, Nahir heard the door at the end of the otherwise empty cell block opening up. A figure suddenly appearing in front of her, something that she hadn't quite expected. What made it so much worse that it was her own visage that appeared her in front of her._

_"Well," Infiltra commented, leaning against the plastic, her voice managing to travel through the air holes. "You seem comfortable. Nice digs."_

_"Very funny," Nahir snapped, getting up from her bed. "Let me out. Now!"_

_"Say please," the creature wearing her face smirked. "And I might consider it. Nice surroundings that you keep. Love the powers. Especially the suit. Fits in all the right places, surprised you've never noticed that."_

_"When I get out of here..." Nahir warned, almost seething at the comment. Anger that was clearly reflected in her features, her teeth were bared and her pupils dilated. "... I will hunt you down and end you. I don't care how long it takes!"_

_"You rangers are resourceful," Infiltra said. "But, the only way you're getting out of that body is when I remove you. Because that's what I did. You're the only one at home in there, the regular occupant is AWOL. Your body... Just under her skin. For all intents and purposes, you're possessing her."_

_"Makes no difference," the yellow ranger growled. "I'm not going to..."_

_"But if you're going to be like that, I might just leave you there," Infiltra remarked. "It'd save me a whole lot of trouble. Plus, I could keep your form forever. Ditch your friends, find those who would pay for my services..."  
"I'm not going to stop trying to escape from here," Nahir warned. "So, you might as well..."_

_"Oh gee," Infiltra taunted, her voice incredibly sarcastic. "Wish I could deal with that. Oh wait..."_

_Still smirking at Nahir, with the face that the yellow ranger had seen so often, she continued to speak._

_"... Unless I remove you from there, I reckon that you've got the best part of two days left. That's how long I can leave someone in there for. Then, the regular personality will take over and you'll be gone forever."_

_"You bitch!"_

_"Don't hate me," Infiltra said. "Just because you currently aren't me."_

_"I'll kill you!" Nahir screamed, hurling herself at the plastic. Only for the fake yellow ranger to vanish away in a burst of speed. Screaming out in fury, she started to smash her fists against the plastic, desperately hoping that it would do some good._

_

* * *

_

"Inner conflict," Ortari mused, her tone somehow appearing slightly greedy as she spoke. "That's really one of the best type. A virtual prisoner in your own mind... How tasty. And, you were locked in a cage as well. That really does have them all."

"Glad you were enjoying it so much," the yellow ranger replied, sarcastically. "I was having an absolute fantastic time of it."

"Sarcasm?" Ortari asked. "A very human trait, I commend you for its use. That's not something I've heard used for... Quite a while."

"Incidentally..." Nahir said, quickly. "It's not something that was dangerous, but I've got a memory. One that took everything I had to admit to..."

* * *

_"Are you really sure that you want to go through with it?" Katie asked, glancing down at the yellow ranger. "Because..."_

_"Two things," Nahir replied. "One, it was your idea, and two, I'm not going to back out of it."_

_"Yeah, it was my suggestion, but you didn't have to agree to it."_

_"Because I never thought that I'd lose that bet."_

_"That's the chance you take when you gamble," Katie remarked, stretching out. Wincing slightly at the bruises that still marked her body. "Which is the reason that I don't do it."_

_"Isn't what you did recently with taking that mutating serum gambling with your life?" Nahir wondered. "If you want to get technical about it."_

_"Actually, that was more accidental," the red ranger replied. "But, it's not about me. More about you. And Luke."_

_"You should have seen him earlier," Nahir said, with a smile. "When he came up to me with the reminder. He was so nervous. It was kinda cute in its own way."_

_"Well, you never know," Katie commented. "You go on a date with him, it might go well. Maybe you end up on another with him."_

_"Anything's possible, I suppose," Nahir replied. "Some more possible than others. I mean... That wouldn't be the worse thing..."_

_"Nahir, how do you really feel about him?" Katie wondered. "As a whole?"_

_"Honestly?" she asked. "I don't know. I mean, sometimes he can be so annoying. He can open his mouth and be really callous..."_

_"Yeah, I do hang around with him, you know. It is something I have noticed."_

_"But, other times he can be a really nice guy. Really balanced and sweet. If I knew which Luke was constantly going to be there..."_

_"Well, that's the chance you have to take," Katie said. "You need to find out the real Luke and decide how you feel about him."_

_"Oh goody," Nahir replied, the resignation in her voice. Before perking up slightly. "Then again, it could be good. I mean, what's the worse that could happen?"_

_

* * *

_

"Awww, look at that," Luke smirked, reaching over to rub her on the shoulder. "How nervous were you?"

"Okay, don't rub it in," Nahir warned. "Because..."

"I just hope that I was worth it," the purple ranger continued, a smile in his voice. "Because..."

"Hey, let's see what you were like before it," Nahir playfull said, activating her speed to race over and grab his arm. Pulling him back with her, she clamped his hand against the DMVM, seeing it activate instantly against his touch. "Before our first date."

* * *

_"So, what are you going to...?" Ryan started to ask, before pausing. Almost like a thought had hit him. "Is that the reason that you arranged it for tomorrow night? So you've got the rest of today and most of tomorrow to think of something."_

_"Oh, I've already got most of it planned out," Luke replied. "She likes food from Sinnoh..."_

_"Not surprised, it's awesome," Ryan said. "Sinnoh food..."_

_"... Are you kidding?" Duo asked. "Johto food rules everything. It could beat Sinnoh food with both hands tied behind its back and heavily hung over."_

_"No, it makes you hung over with the amount of alcohol that they put in it," Xavier pointed out. "While Hoenn food is healthy, tasty and easy on the stomach."_

_"Yeah, I don't think that you're going to find anyone to agree with you there," Luke commented. "Having been raised in the Orange Islands... It's a lot of water type Pokémon meat, like Goldeen. It's quite easy to get hold of. This will be an interesting change."_

_"It's not like you've never eaten anything else though," Xavier remarked. "I've seen you do so in the Aquabase."_

_"I never said that I wouldn't," he replied. "But, Sinnoh food... Safe bet."_

_"Where are you going?" Ryan wondered. "Just out of..."_

_"Taste Of Sinnoh," Luke said. "It's a new place that opened up in Agueros Town. A friend of a friend recommended it."_

_"Ah," Ryan replied. "Well, let me know what it's like, I wouldn't mind having some home cuisine at some point."_

_"Well, don't show up tomorrow," Luke said. "Otherwise, I'll play Piebola with your head."_

_

* * *

_

"This is heavily off-topic," Ortari commented, dryly. "Don't you have anything better to do, because I am very quickly losing interest."

"Quick, someone relate a story of ultra violence!" Xavier yelled, before Ryan obliged, again moving forward to activate the device.

"Alone and against all odds?" he asked, flashing the time traveller a grin. "I've got something for you."

* * *

_Racing through the darkness, knowing that his enemy could appear out of the black at any point, the green ranger just wanted to keep on moving. Far in the distance, he swore that he could hear voices, sounds that were vaguely familiar..._

_"Hello!" he shouted, trying to make himself heard across the distance. Even though he had no idea how far they were. And then, he heard the response._

_"Ryan!" Xavier yelled, the voice of the blue ranger directing him through the dark of the tunnel. In the distance, he could still see Reviver, the being leading him towards his comrades. "Come on, man!"_

_"Hurry!" another voice screamed. That one was Nahir, the yellow ranger sounding incredibly worried. "He's back!"_

_"I know!" the green ranger shouted, bringing out his Genesis Blaster. "Don't worry, I'll give him a kicking."_

_Carrying on his run, he made his way into the chamber where Reviver had lead him. As he charged in, the immediate sight of the other rangers, secured to the ground with ropes fashioned out of a strange energy caught his vision. Unfortunately, that momentary distraction was enough for Reviver to charge him from behind, the blow taking him by surprise. As the blaster dropped to the floor and skidded away from him, leaving him unarmed. Desperately trying to recover, he was halfway to his feet when Reviver hit him again, the body check hurling him across the room. Jumping up again, he threw a kick at Reviver, the big figure barely staggered by the weakened blow. Not giving up, Ryan attacked again, tackling the masked figure to the ground before punching him in the face. Grunting in pain from the attack, Reviver managed to throw him off him, the green ranger landing on the dirt floor of the cavern from the attack._

_"You're no match for the Legend of Slowpoke Forest," the figure taunted. "I'll destroy you slowly. And then your friends. Nobody screws with..."_

_"There's just one thing," Ryan groaned, climbing to his feet. "You're not the Legend of Slowpoke Forest. You're an irritating pest from the future, and you're not wanted here."_

_"Well, what are you going to do about it?" Reviver retorted, folding his arms in amusement as his opponent took up a fighting stance. "Burst into tears?"_

_"This!" the green ranger shot back, holding out his arms. "Toxic Armour!"_

_At his order, the new armour that Bill had fashioned from the remains of the Cobra Rangers began to cover his body. The silver helmet was combined with the Cobra helmet, giving it a slight Arbok appearance, while the arms became covered in a silver armour, large blades emerging out from the gauntlets while spikes erupted across the knuckles. Finally, more armour appeared upon the legs, while more spikes emerged across the side and tip of the boots._

_"Go on, Ryan!" Duo shouted, all five of the trapped rangers struggling to escape from where they were secured with the strange ropes. "Kick his ass!"_

_Throwing himself across the small chamber, the green ranger hit Reviver with a kick, the poison tipped boots raking across his stomach. Not letting up, Ryan grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and tossed him to the ground, before the blades on his forearms began to glow with a bright purple energy._

_"Toxic Slash!" he roared, leaping into attack with a pair of powerful slashes, each threatening to overcome the Dark Spectre. Instead of exploding, he shot backwards as if fired from a cannon, completely exiting the cavern. And, as he left, the ropes securing the five captive rangers vanished from view, allowing them to sit up._

_

* * *

_

As the images faded away, Ortari spoke up, her voice clear and loud in the chamber.

"These are all well and good," she said, leaning back away on her stone throne. "Yet, among the seven of you, there is one who hasn't spoken. Your leader... It's an interesting sort of leader who lets her underlings do all the speaking while they say nothing."

"You're questioning whether or not I've seen action?" Katie asked, already shooting the Lady of Time a disgusted look. "Is that what you're saying?"  
When Ortari didn't reply, the red ranger strode forward and almost punched her hand into the DMVM, the item already responding to her touch.

"Three occasions!" she snapped, still not letting up with her anger towards Ortari. "Three occasions to change your mind."

* * *

_Pain coursed through her body as she hit the rooftop. Even straight away, she could imagine the bruises rising up across her skin. And, after all she'd been through previously, she thought that she didn't bruise easily._

_And then came K's wrath. The Hunter grabbing her up by the shoulders, slamming her into the ground again. Her brain fogging up from the pain, she forced herself to fight back. Hitting K in the stomach with both feet, she jumped up to attack with another kick. Shrugging off her glider, she went back on the attack. Throwing a punch towards K, the Hunter easily blocked the blow. Kneeing her in the stomach, the red ranger doubled over in pain. The infection coursing through her system once again, what was happening seemingly not escaping K._

_"There it goes," she taunted. "Your high price for reaching this point. Soon, you'll be like me. Unable to go back to anything else. There's no antidote. No escaping us."_

_Stung by the comment, Katie responded by throwing a punch towards K's stomach. Her attack fueled by anger, the blow forcing her over in pain._

_"You think I care?" she asked, moving to twist her arm up. Sensing it snap under the duress, Katie heard K let out a scream of pain. "I'll still fight. I'll still destroy you and anything else that gets in my way."_

_"An attitude that's going to make you many friends throughout the years," K said, sarcastically. Before throwing her good arm up and sending the red ranger sailing up into the air with a powerful strike. Back away from the edge, already starting to fall down through the air. "Although, that's not going to be that long."_

_Even as she fell, Katie saw her Hunter Glider move. Shooting through the air from where she'd discarded it, the vehicle slotted onto her back. Flames erupting from the metal, covering her entire body. Much to K's bemusement._

_"What the...?" she started to say, before the red ranger accelerated up in the burning fireball. Hurling herself forward, unleashing a punch backed by the raw heat of fire, Katie felt her entire body pass straight through Poké Hunter K. Completely decimating her from view, the heat around her instantly died down. Her sentiments mimicking those that K had given off moments before she had been destroyed._

_"What the heck was that?"_

_Landing back on the roof, she quickly doubled over in pain, Clutching at her stomach, the agony absolute, she heard a voice in her helmet._

"Hmmm..." Ortari started to say, not exactly convinced by that alone. "What else have you got?"

* * *

"I guess there's only one way to deal with this then," Dorlinda remarked, removing his eye from the rim of the microscope. "This writing is Traore. Words are powerful things, at least our original dialect is. When spoken in the original language, it creates a one way trip. When spoken in English... I believe that the trip may become two way. We can bust in there and get them out."

"We?" Crane asked, slightly surprised. "What do you mean, we?"

"You and me."

"There you go again with the strange meaning. How often do you come along on life or death missions. Normally, you're the stay in the shadows guy and..."

"If Ortari has something to do with this, I wouldn't mind knowing how she didn't die."

"Dorlinda..." Crane said, slowly. "Are you sure... Because I can question her for you. I'm an effective interrogator. Plus, I have little aversion to hitting people who won't answer questions."

"And what are you going to do when she vanishes away through time, if indeed it is her. Or another Lord of Time intent on mimicking her. What is your plan then?"

"Okay, point taken, but I'm not convinced by taking you along on the trip," Crane said. "Because..."

"Since when were you so concerned about my safety, Crane?"

That broke it for him, Crane was unable to keep the sheer emotion out of his voice.

"Because you die!" he yelled. "Because you're going to die. I know it happens... You're gone from the future I come from, there's no sign of you. And then, I hear your fate... I don't want you to die."

"Everyone dies," he replied. "I'm not about to let it stop me. If it happens, it's fate and was meant so. I'm not concerned about it, you shouldn't be either."

* * *

"What else have you got for me?" Ortari asked, looking at Katie. "Is this all you have? Just one little tale of..."

"I told you I have more, didn't I?" Katie replied, darkly. Again, she pressed down the item, forcing it to respond to her touch.

* * *

_Not having to keep up with him for long, Cobra Red eventually brought himself to a halt above a large area of grassland. Katie looking down to see the ground below, probably easily at least a mile. The extreme height enough to make her gulp slightly in worry, before she focused her attention away onto the Cobra._

_"How skilled are you with those?" he asked, hovering about ten feet away from here. The moderately powerful winds forcing him to speak louder than normal. "Because, I wouldn't want you to fall and hit the ground before I have a chance to destroy you."_

_"You've been flying for all of twenty four hours and suddenly you're a Pidgey?" Katie shot back. "Come on and get me. If you think that you can hit me in this..."_

_Leaving her taunt hanging, she saw Cobra Red come for her. Rushing through the air to hit her, like a Pidgeot forcing out its Aerial Ace. Flaring her wings out, she caught a gust of wind and soared away. Coming back out onto the inside to slash out with her claws again, her attack hitting her opponent in the back. As he let out a roar of pain, he rolled over to try and land a kick on her. The attack partially successful as it caught her in the side of the face, knocking her over. She probably fell about fifty feet through the air before recovering her composure. Only to see Cobra Red bulleting through the air towards her, both arms out to try and impale her. Quickly moving, she caught a draft and evaded the strike. Barely. Taking a deep breath, she accelerated towards her opponent, moving in to grab him from behind. Something that surprised him, as she locked both his arms together in a hold, rendering him unable to move. Bringing her other arm up around his throat, she began to fly again, accelerating around and around in rapid circles. The force dizzying the evil ranger, she finally broke out of what seemed like the fiftieth consecutive circle and shot up into the sky. Breaking her ascent, she started to power down towards the ground, using the power of gravity to speed up her descent. The sounds of the sickened Cobra Red ringing through the air as the distance towards the ground passed in a matter of seconds. With the trip nearly over, Katie picked up her speed, the final stretch of the journey almost over..._

_... And smashed him into the ground. The Cobra Ranger letting out a weak groan of pain as he lay in a crumpled pile, a small crater having formed underneath him._

_"And that's my Orbital Toss," she taunted, landing on the ground across from him. Her armour vanishing away, the Hunter Glider returning to the Silver Gyarados._

_

* * *

_

This time, Ortari had no reply, the only sign that she had seen what had happened on the orb in front of her. Instead of speaking, she let Katie carry on with what she was clearly intending to reveal.

"And the toughest fight I've been in since becoming the leader?" Katie asked, still focusing on Ortari, her expression cold and hard. "Was a fight I shouldn't have had to take. It was brought on against someone I thought was an ally, but they turned to enemy in the blink of an eye."

* * *

_"Red Hunter Ranger!" she yelled, flaring out her wings as she ran towards Kyle. And Dennis._

_"Kill you!" Kyle snarled, his voice tinged with growls and roars as he smashed Dennis down into the ground. "Die!"_

_"Hunter Slash!"_

_From Katie's own claws, the attack came up against Kyle's arm, the metallic weapons cutting against the armour. Feeling it, the surprise attack was enough to force Kyle to drop Dennis, turning to snarl at Katie. The red Genesis Ranger retreating slightly at the barrage of grunts, growls and roars thrown at her, the message clear._

_"Kyle, you're not a murderer!" Katie said. "Now, just..."_

_Interrupting her, Dennis let out a snicker of laughter at the scene in front of him._

_"How ironic," he sneered. "A ranger tries to save me from another ranger. And who's the real villain here?"_

_Without even pondering the question, Katie darted over to smash him in the face with her boot, the blow knocking the weakened Coppinger out cold._

_"Come on, Kyle," the red Genesis Ranger said, trying to appeal to his better nature. "He's not a threat any more. Just... Let him go. Calm down. What do you say?"_

_For a moment, Kyle didn't say anything. Until he slowly brought his head up to gaze at her._

_"Grraargh!" he howled, flinging himself forward. "Fury Drive!"_

_Hurling himself forward, his body became coated with flames, the claws on his hands outstretched to impale his opponent. Bringing her own arms up, the red Genesis Ranger managed to hold the claws back, Kyle's body barely centimetres away from hers. But..._

_"Die!" Kyle bellowed, his face close to hers. She could hear the malice in his voice as the fires around him grew ever larger to try and overwhelm her. Several unintelligble grunts emerging from him as he tried to scorch her with the searing flames rising up_

_"Before you kill me," she said, softly. "There's something you should know."_

_The curious part of Kyle appeared, just for a moment in his demeanour. Temporarily overshadowing the insanely angry part, his head tilted slightly to the side, watching and waiting for her answer._

_"Huh?"_

_"My suit's based on a Flareon," she replied, her voice dropping as low as his had. "And so..."_

_Throwing both her arms up, she easily tossed him back. The outlines of her suit glowing with white and red energy, signalling the activation of the Flash Fire ability. "I get a cool ability."_

_Picking himself up, Kyle hurled himself back into the fray to try and impale her with his claws. Katie calling out an attack as he did so._

_"Hunter Beam!"_

_Without warning, the multicoloured beam of energy shot from the visor in her helmet, the focused burst of energy hitting Kyle in the chest to force him back. As he momentarily staggered, Katie went in on the offensive, throwing a kick towards his head. Ducking down, the red Dino Ranger tried to slash at her standing leg much in the same way Miborg had done to Brutus. Only for Katie to flare her wings and sail over the lunge, her next kick landing from an airborne position. Hissing in pain as her foot crashed against the spikes on his head, Kyle leaped up to try and hit her with a Fury Attack. His horns raking across the front of her costume as he did so, the red Genesis Ranger wincing in pain as she felt her skin under the suit tear. The warm sensations of blood rushing down her chest._

_"That's going to leave a mark!" she roared, dropping down to try and hit him with another Hunter Slash. Kyle bringing his own claws up to block, the two sets of weapons locking between the two combatants. Drawing a deep breath, he pushed back, the force of his attack hurling Katie back away from him. As he stared her down for a moment, he let out another barrage of unintelligible howls and snarls, almost challenging her over something._

_"Oh, I'm just getting warmed up," she retorted, pushing the pain in her chest wound to the back of her mind. Despite not being able to understand him, she got the general gist of his barrage. "You're not the only one who's getting angry."_

_Rather than retort back, Kyle instead gave out another series of snarls, followed by a single command. "Blaze Beam!"_

_Despite her own rising anger levels, she wasn't getting sloppy, rather the opposite as she had expected the surprise attack from him. Her wings extending out, she quickly took to the sky, hearing the whistle of the attack sail wide below her. Growling in anger, Kyle flexed his own wings out and began to fly after her._

_Spinning in the air, Katie threw out a boot and managed to catch a blow into Kyle's chest, knocking him back slightly away from her. Enough time to..._

_"Hunter Slash!"_

_Extending out her own claws, she tore through the empty space to go for his exposed stomach. The friend turned enemy recovering faster than she had thought to burst up into the air, evading her attack with a sarcastic laugh._

_"Urgrawhhg! No escape!" he roared, hovering several feet away from her. "Grrrawgh!"_

_"Guess what," she replied, through gritted teeth. "I'm faster than you!"_

_Flaring out her wings to stop her motion, she sailed back at him, taking him by surprise with her speed. Even managing to land two punches into his face before he could recover and retaliate. Striking back with attacks of his own, his punches soon managed to force the red Genesis Ranger back. Steadying herself in midair, Katie threw out a clawed fist to try and force him back. Kyle easily dodging it._

_"Hrawrgghhh!" he bellowed, again readying himself to unleash an attack through the air. "Argghh! Blaze Beam!"_

_Again, the concentrated beam erupted through the air, Katie taking the attack on her gloves. Instantly grimacing from the pain, as it broke through her defenses and struck her in the chest. Kyle immediately flying towards her, keeping up the fire on her. More unintelligible animalistic snarls and howls racing from him, before he suddenly shot through the air with his claws out. Katie barely able to hold him back as she grabbed his wrists. The claws barely inches from her throat._

_"No help!" he snarled, determined to keep on trying to force his attack through and impale her. "Uarggh!"_

_"What the hell," she said, groggily. "It was worth a shot. I'll take what I can get lately. But, I still have one trick in my armory."_

_Quickly bringing her knee up, Katie made contact with his groin. Instantly recoiling in pain as her knee cracked against the armour, not really doing any damage to Kyle who let out a snarl of savage laughter at the sight. His momentary break allowing her enough give to force him back, she quickly evaluated the pain in her knee. Judging it not serious, she hurled herself forward to grab him from behind, her arms wrapping around his shoulders._

_"Learnt that one long before I became a ranger," she taunted in his ear, her wings taking both of them up even higher into the sky. "That's not the best bit though. That honour has to go to... Orbital Toss!"_

_"GRRAWWRGHH!" Kyle bellowed, his enraged roar whipping back across to her face. Doing his best to break out of her hold, she was barely managing to hold him in place as the two of them started to fly in circles. Powerful fast circles, cutting through the air miles above the Earth._

_"Let go!" Kyle snarled, still trying to break out away from the grip that the other red ranger had on him. More grunts and roars emerging amidst the words that he was managing to squeeze out. "Now!"  
"Not if you don't say please," she retorted, finally tearing out of the circles the two of them had been flying in, enough speed having been generated to start racing towards the ground._

_"GRRAWARGHA!" he screamed, frantically renewing his efforts to break out of her grasp. Taking the chance, he reacted quickly to the slight hesitation she showed, bringing an elbow up into her side. As her grip loosened, his head came back to smash into the front of her helmet. Twisting himself around across her, he managed to place an arm across her throat. Deliberately tightening his grip to deprive her of air, he let out a brief laugh at the sharp gasp that cut out of her mouth._

_Right on cue, the two of them crashed into the ground. A huge cloud of grass and dust rising up from the impact, completely masking them._

_

* * *

_

"Well, I'm impressed," Ortari replied, opening her hand up to reveal the silver shard from earlier. "You have gone through a lot to get to this point. That's the amazing thing about the Infinity Shard, it can only be activated and used to its full potential by those who have fought their way to the point where they can get it. Even now, because of the power of your words, it is responding. Activating. They will be pleased, pleased at what it is that I have gotten for them. And, it's all thanks to you that the power is mine."

"I thought that you were the guardian of it...!" Ryan yelled, the seven of them all realising that something was amiss. That they had been tricked somehow. "That you were going to..."

"I never said that," Ortari smirked. "You just assumed it. The Time of the Coppingers is coming and there's nothing that you can..."

"Stand corrected!"

Bursting out from a portal that had sprung up to the right of the woman, Crane raced onto the scene, bringing back his fist to smash into her face. As she fell from the throne, the Infinity Shard slipped from her grip rolling towards Dorlinda who was stood behind Crane. Not hesitating, the Lord of Time picked it up.

"Ortari," he said, pleasantly. "Long time no see. How have you been? I see that you aren't dead, which is quite impressive. Want to let me know your secret to avoiding that which comes to us all, or are you not going to be cooperative?"

"Your interrogation skills need improvement," Crane grunted, rubbing his knuckles. "Then again, that's why you brought me along."

"I'm not telling you anything," Ortari taunted, glaring at everyone present. "You're not going to stop it, I'm not helping you."

"Want me to hit her again?" Crane asked, already moving towards her. "Because it's not a problem."

"You'd hit a defenceless woman?" Ortari wondered, shooting him a disgusted look. "That's quite low."

"Like most things around here," Dorlinda remarked. "They aren't what they appear. Nobody ever has had any qualms about beating up Lords of Time. How did you come back?"

"Screw you!"

"Think Clarence might be quite interested to know that you violated the laws of time somehow," he remarked, reaching down into his bag of gambits for a final trump card, something that might make her talk.

"Who do you think put me here?" Ortari smirked, not even buying his threat for a second. "Plucked me out of death and told me to guard the Infinity Shard..."

"That was pointless," Duo said, looking over at Dorlinda. "What's your next threat?"

Ignoring him, both Dorlinda and Ortari began to circle each other, the two time travellers giving the other dirty looks.

"So, now you offer your services to the villains?" Dorlinda said, coldly. "What did that cost you?"

"I have my reasons," she replied. "And... Villains? This entire world is wrong. The Coppingers wish to make it better. If you knew the truth, you would join us."

"Want to bet?" Crane asked, already leaping towards her to try and beat some more information out of her. As he pushed past Dorlinda, knocking the Lord of Time to his knees, the woman vanished from view, transporting herself away into thin air.

"Damnit, Crane!" Dorlinda shouted, picking himself up in anger. "She could have given us more information..."

* * *

"What does it all mean, though?" Ryan asked, watching his leader place the Infinity Shard in the safe, along with the Eternal Flame, half of the Eclipse Stone, the Empath Sapphire, the Liquid Platinum, the Glace Crystal and the Natural Gift. "This whole dance... How did the Coppingers convince a supposedly dead Lord of Time to join their cause?"

"That's not something that we're going to know," Dorlinda replied. "I'll try to get in touch with Clarence and see what he knows about Ortari. If he knows what caused her to go rogue, although I'm not holding my breath."

"Because if he knew, she probably wouldn't still have been guarding it," Nahir commented. "What about us? What if we encounter Ortari again?"

"You won't," Dorlinda predicted. "Clarence keeps a pretty close eye on the seven of you because of what you do. If she shows up, he'll bring his full wrath down on her. She knows that and isn't going to risk it. I'd say you just carry with what you're doing. There are ten artefacts out there. You have six and a half of them. You know that the Coppingers as a together have one and a half of them. There's still two more left to reveal. You've done a wonderful job to get this far."

* * *

Walking into the room, Ortari took a moment to regain herself, patting her clothes down to make sure that she looked respectable. The twin Coppinger guards at the entrance to the room both saluted her, used to her regular visits by now. Apart from Dennis, she was the only one who was allowed into the room, those being the only two. Because of their connection to that which lay inside the chamber behind the doors.

"Soon," she muttered, closing the doors behind her, the huge life support chamber in front of her the only real feature of the room. That and the brown haired woman who lay inside it, connected up to the machine with a huge variety of wires. "Soon, you'll be back on your feet."

Continuing on over to the side of the chamber, Ortari placed her hand on the thick plastic cover, the surface cool to her touch.

"Forsythia..."

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Okay, so it's a clip chapter. Shoot me...**

**Maybe some answers there. Particularly if you remember back to Two Years Later...**

**So, another artefact down. Two left to reveal... Nine episodes left... Sure, why not. It can be done.**

**No thanks for reviews today, since there weren't any... Grrr...**

**Seems like quite a while ago since I wrote some of those scenes that were clipped.**

**... Also, apparently Dorlinda is going to die at some point. At least he's not worrying about it.**

**Business end of the season... We're getting down to the wire.**

**Next one... Jealousy Killed The Rangers. Preview below.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Seriously, don't forget to review! Please! Ortari is answering today.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Forty Three, Jealousy Killed The Rangers, preview.**

**Katie: What's wrong with you three?**

**Xavier: Nothing wrong with me, it's those two morons.**

**Paige: Okay, let's hear the story.**

**Duo: It was Thursday...**

**Xavier: It was Thursday...**

**Luke: It was Friday.**

**Lance: Three versions of the same story? This can't end well.**

**Bill: Just have to sift the facts from the untruths...**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon. Yeah...**


	43. Jealousy Killed The Rangers

Chapter Forty Three. Jealousy Killed The Rangers.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As Luke and Duo competed to win a trophy in a golf tournament, they gave it to Bill to study and try to work out the source of the power. After the battle with Sporeking, they returned to the Silver Gyarados where Bill revealed he had found the secret answer. Reading an incantation, he opened a portal to another Time Hole where they discovered a Lord of Time named Ortari. After an offhand comment, she revealed herself to be the guardian of the Infinity Shard, demanding that the rangers show her scenes of their greatest triumphs to prove they had fought to reach this point. All the while, Crane went to Dorlinda, confiding in him. Despite the revelation that Dorlinda was going to die, the two of them worked out the details, breaking into Ortari's Time Hole as she was planning to double cross the rangers. Despite getting the Infinity Shard back from her, she escaped from them, returning to a Coppinger base where she walked into a room containing a woman on life support..._

_

* * *

_

"Hey, Alv..."

Looking around to the sound of the voice as he finished climbing down from the huge crane at the docks, Alvin saw his buddy calling over to him, a can of Black Persian in his hand.

"Early liquid lunch," Phil offered, digging another can out of the hamper next to him. "Since we're knocking off soon."

"Dude, I work in a crane..." Alvin said, gesturing back up to the large metal structure above him. "... Crack one open. I'll sink a few before we get back to work."

"That's the blue collar spirit, my man," Phil replied, not bothering to open one up before tossing it at Alvin. "That's our right. Have a hard morning's work, relax during the break and then carry on with the labour."

"And nothing bad ever happens," Alvin laughed, cracking the can open before taking a cooling swig of the liquid inside...

Right as the warehouse the closest to them exploded into a fireball of heat, light and sound, the deafening roar hurling them to the ground, grit and dirt showering over them, the Black Persian spilling to the ground.

Even as they looked up to see what was going on, the two saw three figures walking out of the smoke, each of them wearing a bright coloured uniform.

"Poké Rangers..." Alvin choked, seeing the black, blue and purple rangers all stood in front of them. "What's going..."

Before he could finish, the black ranger turned and hit the purple ranger square in the face, the blow knocking him to the ground.

"Are you out of your damn mind? I told you not to..."

Even as the purple ranger dropped to the ground, the blue ranger tried to grab the black ranger, stopping him from carrying on. Before the black ranger could pull away, the blue ranger struck him in the back with a kick, forcing him to the ground upon which the purple ranger got back up and threw the blue ranger into the flames of the warehouse, the two dock workers watching him jump back up to get out.

"You're going to regret that!"

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. Crane appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefacts. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Dark Spectres hover above Coppinger mutant monsters._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord, North Wind Megazord and Silent Strike Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

"Jeez, calm it down!"

* * *

"Don't tell me to calm down, or I'll put you down!"

With those shouts, the group in the bridge turned to see something smash against the door, the structure shaking from the impact for several moments before Xavier came crashing through it, landing on his back. On the other side, the other four rangers, plus Crane, Lance and Bill could see Duo and Luke about to go at it, the black ranger trying to throttle Luke over one of the railings.

"This is... Different," Crane remarked, folding his arms in bemusement. "I'm amazed that it took this long for some of you to turn on each other."

"What's wrong with you three?" Katie demanded, moving over to separate Luke and Duo, the two of them almost close to breaking out into a fight again.

"Nothing wrong with me," Xavier replied, darkly. "It's those two morons."

Even as the blue ranger picked himself up, he made to go for Luke and Duo again, eager to beat down on them. He would have done had Crane not grabbed him by the shoulder. Even as the blue ranger turned to hit him, Crane easily tossed him back against the wall before he could really get the blow away.

"Try it again," the former ranger warned. "And, I will hurt you."

"Any suggestion as to what we do to amend this?" Paige asked, as she and Nahir managed to pull Luke back away from Duo, the purple ranger still intent on hurting his ranger colleague as much as possible.

"Lock them in separate rooms?" Bill offered. "Then try and work out what's wrong."

"Original," Nahir said, the sarcasm thick in her voice. "Really original."

* * *

After the acts of violence that had taken place on the bridge, the other rangers had managed to get the in-fighting rangers into separate cabins down below deck, before the start of their attempts to work out what had made them turn on each other. Each of them had been locked in the room, along with someone to listen to the story, the reasons and excuses that they had gone for each other.

* * *

"Okay," Paige said, she and Crane looking at Xavier. "Let's hear the story."

"It was Thursday," Xavier replied. "Yesterday..."

* * *

"It was Thursday," Duo started, folding his arms as he glanced across at Katie. "You don't have to give me that look, I'm not going to go psycho on you."

"You do and I'll burn you. Literally."

"I wouldn't dare," the black ranger answered. "I'm terrified. Literally."

* * *

"Where do you want to start?" Nahir asked, as she and Ryan gave Luke some probing looks. "Wherever you feel comfortable."

"It was Friday," the purple ranger replied, confidently.

* * *

"Oh for the love of..." Bill groaned, letting himself slump back in his chair. "This..."

"Three versions of the same story?" Lance asked, the two of them watching the action taking place on the monitors in front of them. "This can't end well."

"Guess we'll just have to sift the facts from the untruths..." Bill answered. "If something appears in all three versions, it's probably likely to be accurate..."

"Or, it could be that all of them were mislead," the Dragon Master pointed out. "Take nothing as truth here, we just have to work it out for ourselves, given their testimony."

"What day was yesterday?"

"Tuesday."

"Oh..."

"It wasn't really, it was Thursday."

* * *

"It was Friday," Luke repeated. "We were all called in by Bill..."

"When you say that you were all called in..." Ryan started to ask, before Luke clarified his statement.

"When I say we were all, I mean myself, Moron A and Moron B. This is how I remember it."

* * *

_"Okay," Bill said, looking over at the three rangers in front of him. "It is most wondrous that you have come here to partake in this most pressingly serious of desperate activities, our problems are about to be compounded by a further set of quantifiable engorged variables and it is urgent that we take the swiftest of action to avoid an embarrassment that can't be shunned."_

_"That does sound most troublesome," Xavier said, stroking his chin while pacing up and down anxiously. "We need a plan of action, some way of acting that will deal with the problem as fast as possible with as little danger to us as we can chance."_

_"Yeah, we need to take this thing down faster than a Rapidash being chased by an Aerodactyl," Duo chipped in. "Although, if we can take the public route, there's likely to be some comely and loose women that I can hit on, before coming back here and flirting with Katie."_

_"Where do we go?" Luke asked. "And what's the problem?"_

_"This threat has transpired to arrive in the industries of Waterfall Shores, a place that the three of you no doubt have the greatest of recollections of, due to your past experiences of your former lives as rangers of a different generation."_

_"Waterfall Shores," Luke replied. "Gotcha."_

_"Great!" Duo exclaimed, punching the air. "Trip by the beach. Women in bikini's! Awesome!"_

_

* * *

_

"So, that's an unbiased view?" Ryan asked. "Really?"

"Are you calling me a liar?" Luke demanded, shooting the green ranger a dirty look. "That's exactly how I remember it, and if anyone else says anything different, they are a liar."

* * *

"Well, Bill had called us into the bridge," Duo remarked, remembering his version of events. "And, the three of us went there to see what he wanted."

* * *

_"Okay," Bill said, looking over at the three rangers in front of him. "We've got a problem. A big one."_

_"Uh oh," Xavier muttered. "What's the big problem. We need to get at it right now, so I can assert my authority over this group."_

_"Not likely," the black ranger muttered. "Let's get it, there's no time to waste."_

_"Seems like wasting time is the main aim of these things," Luke said, grumpily. "Our time. Seriously, I could have stayed in bed this morning. Then I can come back here, find Nahir and rub it in that I'm in a stable relationship with someone who I'd been chasing for the best part of a year, while the rest of you are either single or not in one as good as mine."_

_"Come on, Bill," Duo said, ignoring the other two. "Where is it that we go?"_

_"You need to go to Waterfall Shores."_

_"Ah, a hark back to better times," Xavier remarked. "If we're heading into Waterfall Shores, I might as well take charge. I used to be red ranger, you know."_

_

* * *

_

"Right," Katie replied, glancing up at the security camera, where she knew Bill and Lance would be watching. "Okay, that's helpful... I think."

* * *

"Alright," Xavier said, banging his fist on the table. "As I recall, this is what happened. Bill and Lance called us up onto the bridge..."

* * *

_"Alright, guys," Bill said, waving at the three of them as they came through the door to enter the bridge. "How's it going?"_

_"Now's not the time for frivolity," Lance remarked. "We have a problem. Probably Coppinger related as well."_

_"Now what do they want?" Xavier asked, folding his arms._

_"Ah, they only want one thing," Duo commented. "Everything. I had a girlfriend like that once. Glad that I dumped her in probably the worst way that I could, I love being single. Means I can hit on every girl I see and still reserve some special time for flirting with my superior."_

_"That's the way to go about it," Luke said. "Work up over a years worth of sexual tension between the two of you and then engineer her into a position where she can't really turn you down because you interest her so much."_

_"Bill, where's the target location?" Xavier asked, ignoring the other two rangers. "We need to know if we're going to get after this thing and put it out of commission."_

_"As far as we can tell, it's in Waterfall Shores," Bill replied. "When you get there, I'll try and narrow the focus so we can lock it down to a certain area."_

_"Great, nice to know that we're not wandering away into the unknown," Luke said. "Last time that happened... Who are we kidding, it happens EVERY SINGLE TIME!"_

"I see," Crane said. "So, all of this took place at on the Silver Gyarados? If we ask Bill and Lance, they're going to confirm your statement, are they?"

* * *

"Seems a trifle over the top for a friendly interrogation," Paige remarked, glancing at him. "Really?"

"Hey, the cop habit dies hard."

"So, what happened after that?" Paige asked, turning her expression back to Xavier. "What came next. Presumably after travelling into Waterfall Shores?"

Not hesitating, the blue ranger began to speak.

* * *

_"Ah, remember this street?" Luke asked, looking around it. "I'm sure that this was where we killed a demon once... Scratch that, I killed a demon here and made myself look like a big hero. As usual."_

_"I once nailed a chick in that building over there," Duo commented, gesturing to an apartment building ahead of them. "Bet neither of you guys have done that? I'm the man. And I always get the woman. Oh yeah!"_

_Still not really paying attention to either of them, Xavier instead looked down at his morpher, intent on listening to what Bill was about to tell them._

_"Okay, we've managed to trace it to a place known as the Eight Of Hearts. It's a bar..."_

_"A bar?" Duo wondered. "Sweet. Maybe there's some prey in there. Light snack before heading back on over to the boat and..."_

_Instead of finishing his sentence, the black ranger instead licked his lips and punched the air._

_"What's your gist?" Luke asked. "Because, whatever it is, I imagine that it will be about eight times less good than what I intend to do when I return back to my palace."_

_"Will you be doing it with the lights on, or off?"_

_

* * *

_

"Wow, that's really... Not what we needed to know," Crane commented. "However, this is really interesting. I think we're starting to get a bigger picture here."

Disagreeing with him, Paige leaned over to whisper something in his ear, something that Xavier couldn't quite catch.

* * *

"Luke, honey," Nahir said, softly. "What happened after you left the Silver Gyarados and went to Waterfall Shores."

"What didn't happen," the purple ranger replied, a huge grin on his face. "What indeed."

* * *

_"As we walk down these humble streets," Xavier said, looking around. "I can remember the times that we fought demons here. Back when I was awesome and not such a wimp as I am now."_

_"Nah, you're not a wimp now," Duo commented. "Just... Not as important as you were. We've got Katie to rely on now... Ah, she's awesome, right? Anyway, back on the subject, I don't think you're a wimp. Not compared to... What's that cowardly Pokémon? Granbull. You're like a slightly less intimidating Granbull."_

_"Gentlemen, please," Luke said, looking down to his morpher, trying to make out what Bill was saying. "The man is trying to speak."_

_"This heinous signal, one that is being most problematic for ours and our own people, has been locked down to a singular location," the PokéManiac replied. "In accordance to the process of triangulation, I have managed to locate it down to the amicable little tavern known only as the Eight Of Hearts. Fellows, you must make the constant haste towards there right away, because the signal is at the lowest of troughs."_

_"Great, a bar!" Duo exclaimed. "Let's go! Good thing actually, I was quite thirsty. Maybe there'll be a serving wench in tight clothes behind the bar."_

_"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Xavier asked, giving the black ranger a strained look. "Because, you might catch something."_

_"What, like a phone number?"_

_

* * *

_

"And, of course, I registered my absolute disgust at the way he was acting," Luke said, winking at Nahir. "Then again, what can you do? Huh?"

Instead of replying, Nahir instead shook her head and shot a resigned look at the security camera in the top corner of the room, unable to say anything.

* * *

"Okay, Duo," Katie said, still not entirely comfortable with his presence, not after the acts of violence she had seen him partake in earlier. "What happened next? When you got to Waterfall Shores."

* * *

_"Okay, let's go this way!" Xavier said, striding forward to the lead of the group. "Follow me, I know what I'm doing. I have fought more creatures of unspeakable evil on these streets than you've had hot meals."_

_"That's not a nice way to refer to the trainers of Waterfall Shores," Luke muttered, darkly. "Man, what a waste. Maybe my family should buy the entire city out, flatten the place and build it up again, only this time with our trademark. The cost would be huge, but the profits would be even bigger. Then, I could retire before I've even started working and spend the rest of my days playing golf."_

_Ignoring them, Duo looked down at his morpher, listening to Bill's instructions as to where they had to go._

_"Our scan of the signal has lead us to believe that it is currently at its strongest in a bar known as the Eight Of Hearts. You get in there and see what you can find."_

_"Aha, excellent," Xavier said, glancing over. "I'm good friends with one of the bouncers there, you just follow behind me and I'll get us in there. It'll be a cinch, just part of the awesome benefits of following my leadership."_

_"Come to think of it," Luke muttered, still ignoring both of the other rangers. "Maybe playing golf every day would eventually get boring. Maybe I would be better off moving into designing golf courses, build one and then charge even more to allow people to play on it. Then, there could be a hotel, and a bar, and a pool, and a casino and... A brothel?"_

_

* * *

_

"Right," Katie said, not quite believing some parts of the story, but deciding to let it slide in exchange for hearing some more of the story. "So, what happened at the Eight Of Hearts. I presume that you got there."

"Eventually," Duo replied. "Nice place actually."

* * *

_As Luke and Duo walked into the main room of the bar, they were quickly followed by Xavier, the blue ranger rubbing at his stomach while wincing in pain._

_"That was out of order and unexpected!" he exclaimed, striding in past his two fellow rangers. "He must have thought that I was someone else, no matter, I shall not let this deter us all. Rather than that, we will talk to, threaten, bribe, blackmail, intimidate and cajole everyone in this place until we find what we need to know. As self appointed leader, that is my order. I'll go talk to those scary looking bikers over there."_

_"If nothing else," Duo remarked, watching the blue ranger walk on over to the group of people that he had said he was going to talk to. "You have to admire and respect the way he's going about things here."_

_"Nah, not really," Luke answered. "I hope he gets a whack. I put a bet on it with one of the men on the door. That he gets at least one more punch before walking out of the bar."_

_"Gambling, really?"_

_Right on cue, one of the bikers picked Xavier up by the collar of his sweatshirt and hurled him back against the wall, the blue ranger flying through the air with all the grace of a startled Snorlax._

_"Just going to collect my money," Luke laughed, already turning to head on back out of the bar._

_

* * *

_

"So, a bunch of bikers decided to beat up Xavier, and you didn't help out?" Katie asked, slightly incredulous by the admission. "Is that what you're saying?"

"Hey, if he sticks his hand in a tank of Carvanha, am I supposed to pull it out?"

"That metaphor doesn't work."

"He wasn't beaten up, either. Just thrown against a wall."

"Oh, because that makes it all okay."

"Why aren't you having a go at Luke? He was part of it as well?"  
"Luke's not here."  
"Convenient," Duo replied, before winking at her. "Then again, can't say I blame you for wanting to be alone with Yours Truly."

* * *

"Alright," Xavier replied, looking across at Paige and Crane. "I suppose the thing you'll want to know next is what happened when we went into the Eight Of Hearts?"

"That would be helpful," Crane said. "Otherwise, we'd be missing parts of the story. Key parts."

* * *

_Not looking where he was going, Xavier accidentally tripped over the step, the hard edge of the stone crashing into his stomach. He could feel the agonising pain move through his stomach, while being simultaneously aware that Luke and Duo had carried on through into the main part of the bar._

_"Thanks for that," he muttered, getting to his feet to follow them inside. "See, we got inside with no trouble. Right, I suggest a plan of action..."_

_Even as he was speaking, Duo was already over towards one of the female bartenders, his voice clear above the general chatter of the bar._

_"Hey, how'd you like to come back to my place and take part in some 'games'. It won't make you feel good about yourself, but at least you might end up on the Internet..."_

_"Anyway, plan of action still remains the same," Xavier said, turning to Luke. "You go and find someone to talk to and I'll go talk to those gentlemen over there."_

_As he watched Luke wander off towards the bar, he moved over to where the group of people were sat, people that he quickly realised weren't who he had expected to be there._

_"Hey, handsome!" one of the women said, giving him a smile. All around him, there had to be about seven or eight of them, all shooting very suggestive looks in his direction. "Want to come back with us and have a good time."_

_"No time for it," Xavier replied, getting to his feet. "The world is in danger, I have to... You seen anything suspicious?"_

_

* * *

_

"That was good of you, thinking about the end result of the line of duty," Paige commented, in a tone that suggested she didn't quite believe him. "If a little..."

"Paige, I'm in a semi-serious relationship with someone," Xavier replied. "I'm not about to go off for a night of passion with a coalition of a hen night."

"Never doubted anything else," Crane said. "Good on you."

* * *

"Okay, Luke," Ryan said, giving the purple ranger a stern look. "Let's hear it. What happened when you arrived at the Eight Of Hearts."

"Look at you trying to be all manly and taking charge," Luke muttered. "Seriously... I'm not answering unless you say please."

"Luke, please..." Nahir said, exasperated by the attitude he had suddenly brought to the table.

"That'll do," he quipped. "Okay. Well, we made our way over there..."

* * *

_"Hello there," Xavier said, stopping to greet the bouncers on the door of the Eight Of Hearts. "We're just coming on in, so..."_

_"ID?" one of them demanded, stepping in front of him to block his path. "Sir!"_

_Even as the blue ranger started to argue, both of his friends brought their own out, flashed them in front of the bouncers before walking on past._

_"Okay, I'll go with them then," Xavier quickly said, making to follow them. Only for an arm to stop him, preventing him from following._

_"Where's your ID?"_

_

* * *

_

_Even as he limped into the bar, both Luke and Duo were watching him, an emotionless look on Luke's face, while Duo was smirking._

_"Man, you look like you took that challenge on," he said. "The one where you have to fight a Hitmonlee, a Hitmonchan and a Machamp in ten minutes and not get your limbs torn off."_

_"Sympathy for the man," Luke demanded. "He... You okay, buddy?"_

_"Ah, maybe this wasn't such a good idea," Xavier muttered, grimacing as he rubbed his stomach. "It's already cost me fifty dollars to bribe the two of them, I've partly been beaten up and..."_

_"Look on the bright side, man," Duo offered. "At least the night isn't going to get any worse."_

_"True," the blue ranger conceded. "So, what's the plan? Glorious Luke, take charge."_

_"Right," Luke said, glancing around the place. "You don't have to add the Glorious part. Anyway, you go talk to those women over there, should be less chance of it going wrong for you. I can't do it, because if my gorgeous girlfriend ever hears this story, I don't want to get dropped in the brown stuff."_

_"Mud?" Duo asked. "Bit of mud wrestling?"_

_"...?"_

_"I'd like to see Katie do some mud wrestling," Duo continued, ignoring his two friends. "Bet that would be..."_

_"Okay, I'm going," Xavier said, already turning to make his way towards the women. Barely ten seconds after he had arrived at the group, he got back up and ran away screaming..._

_

* * *

_

"I see," Nahir commented, both she and Ryan a little surprised at what had just been revealed. "So, when this was all happening, what came next?"

"After that, we continued to ask around at the bar," Luke replied. "We wanted to see what we could find and eventually we hit the jackpot. Some joker set off the fire alarm, and as everyone was filing out of the bar, Bill called us and said that the evil energy signature was leaving along with it. So, we tried to get a lock on the thing by following it."

"Then what happened?" Ryan asked. "When you eventually caught up with it?"

* * *

In the other two rooms, both Xavier and Duo were being asked the same question. Behind the security cameras, Bill and Lance were giving each other looks of pure disbelief at what they had been listening in on.

"Is this even remotely true?" Lance wondered, letting his head drop with shock. "Because, it sounds like complete crap."

"All I can tell you is that the parts where I get in touch with them are true," Bill replied. "I did send them on the mission, I did tell them to go to the Eight Of Hearts and I did tell them that the thing was leaving with the fire alarm. I even directed them in the direction of the warehouse."

"So, that's where they ended up next?" Lance asked. "The warehouse that they blew up?"

"I'm sure they had a good reason for doing it."

"What counts as a good reason for blowing up a warehouse?" the Dragon Master asked. "Because, that's something I'm just dying to know."

* * *

"Okay," Duo said, looking across at the red ranger. "So, we got the call from Bill. He directed us towards the warehouse district. As a result, that's where we went."

* * *

_"The warehouse district!" Luke exclaimed. "Home of many warehouses. Warehousei. Whatever the plural is. I don't care, it's still massively inefficient. My family should buy it and build luxury apartments on the place. This land is pretty good, it'd be awesome."_

_"Well, whatever the problem is," Xavier remarked. "It's somewhere here. Follow me and I shall guide you to it."_

_"Quiet," Duo said, stepping in front of the blue ranger. "I have an inkling where we need to go. I believe that we need to go..."_

_Pausing for a moment, he brought his finger up and gestured to one of the warehouses, pointing confidently at it._

_"That's the one. I'm almost certain of it, I'd stake my reputation on it."_

_Not hesitating, the black ranger began to move forward, the other two trotting behind him, both a little in awe at the way he had picked where they needed to go. Even though it seemed to be completely at random, it was Duo, so there must be method behind the seemingly random choice._

_"Are you sure this is the right place?" Xavier asked. "Because, if it is then we need to storm it. Follow me and..."_

_"What a great door," Luke remarked, rubbing his hand across the metal. "We should sell these, we'd make an absolute fortune off them."_

_Even despite his newest brainwave, he ignored it and followed Duo and Xavier into the warehouse._

_

* * *

_

_No sooner had the three of them made their way into the main part of the warehouse, when the lights cracked on, bathing them all in light. Within moments, the source of the energy signature that they had been tracing became apparent as a light green coloured figure walked out in front of them. It sort of looked like a Sceptile, only with Vileplume petals around her neck, along with blue stripes on her stomach. She also had white Roserade hair, while wearing a skirt in the style of the boquet on the arms of the same Pokémon around her waist. Next to her, the rangers could see several Whismur-styled robots around her, the beings all giving the rangers blank looks._

_"I am Scendor," the mutant snarled, a female tinge in her voice. Even as she spoke, the seven robots around her began to take steps towards the three rangers. "These are my Sirens."_

_"That's a stupid name," Luke muttered. "I would have called them tin cans, and had them recycled."_

_"Aha!" Xavier yelled, leaping up into an attack position. "I don't care what you are, you're still no match for the unending awesomeness of the former red ranger. I'll beat you down with all my might because I'm cool like that."_

_"You're giving us all skin failure," Luke muttered, quietly disgruntled by what had just been said. "Or, you're going to, anyway."_

_"Who are you and what do you want?" Duo demanded, looking at the group. "And... Why are you here, for that matter? Why were you in that bar?"_

_"For victims," Scendor replied. "Victims, test subjects, cannon fodder... Whatever you want to call them."_

_"What do you want them for?" Luke wondered. "You trying to sell their body parts on the black market?"_

_"Interesting idea, but no," she answered. "None of your business what I wanted them for."_

_"And, I guess we're never going to find out," Xavier said, folding his arms. "Shame, but I guess I get to unleash all kinds of awesome power upon you now."_

_"It's eight against three," Scendor remarked, sarcastically. "How do you honestly think this is going to end?"_

_"Manic ultra violence?" Luke quipped, already taking up a fighting stance. "Come on, make my day."_

_Without hesitating, the seven purple robots began to move in on the three rangers, their large arms swaying in their motion. As one came towards him, Luke threw out a telekinetic attack and slammed one of them against the wall, the Whismur-bot whirring out in discomfort. It wasn't long before the other two were in action, battling against the robotic enemies._

_"Guess this is Noland's work," Xavier muttered, tossing one back away from him. "I'm going to lay ten levels of hurt down on him when I get hold of him."_

_"Noland couldn't create me if I rammed a magic wand up his rear end," Scendor taunted, moving over to the blue ranger, flashing her arm blades towards him. "It was... Someone else."_

_"Great, another Coppinger duet!" Luke snarled, moving over to try and get her. "That's all we need right now."_

_Not hesitating, he grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her towards him, punching her in the face. As she struck out at him, knocking him back, both Xavier and Duo came in to attack, trying to force her to the ground. Before they could get her, the Whismur-bots stepped in and grabbed the two of them, hurling them back. Spinning on the spot, the mutant kicked Luke in the stomach, the blow throwing the purple ranger away through the air in the opposite direction._

_"Just face it," Scendor taunted, watching the three of them struggle to get up. "You're outnumbered and out of luck!"_

_Even as she turned back to the blue and black rangers, she heard Luke move behind her. As she turned, the purple ranger was on his feet, his Genesis Blaster in hand._

_"I told you to make my day," he warned, aiming the weapon not at her but slightly to her left. "Tick tock..."_

_"You think you can take eight of us down with one little pop gun?" she asked, sarcastically. "I am..."_

_"I think I can take you down with one shot actually," he replied. "Kaboom."_

_Pulling the trigger, he watched his shot streak through the air, hitting the tanks of petrol across from them..._

_

* * *

_

"So, how did you survive it?"

Leaning back in his chair, Duo let out a sigh, his eyes suddenly tired through the ordeal of his day.

"About the only thing we could do," he said. "Leap for cover and morph. All at the same time, it was like something out of a bad movie. All slow motion and the like. Luke shot the petrol barrels, we went for cover faster than we thought. Then we walked out and realised that..."

"That you were being incredibly irrational?" Katie asked. "Heh, I've seen you three be idiots before but that took the biscuit."

She paused for a moment, looking him up and down, a raised eyebrow signalling her bemusement.

"So, I think the question now, is how do you feel?"

* * *

"I think I have a theory," Bill commented, looking around at the rest of the group. "I think I know why the three of you flipped out with each other. When you were fighting earlier, I had the chance to take a sample of Xavier's blood..."

"Wait, when did you get my blood?" the blue ranger interrupted. "Because..."

"When Crane threw you against the wall," Bill answered. "There were some trace chemicals in your blood stream, they've pretty much faded by now which is why I would wager that you're not angry with each other any more. When you blew the warehouse up to kill Scendor and her Sirens, that must have been when it entered your system. Or when Scendor gave them off, they were enough to temporarily mess you up. Or, alternatively, it might have been a contact thing. That's more likely actually. When you touched her."

"I'm satisfied by that explaination," Luke muttered. "If nothing else."

"Just hope that we didn't take it out on any of you guys," Duo said, shooting a glance over at Katie. "Some of it's a little hazy... Some of the details are dodgy."

"You tell us this, after we spend all afternoon listening to your versions of the stories?" Nahir asked, incredulously. "Seriously?"

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Well... That was different.**

**Either way, I hope you enjoyed it.**

**On the last scene being only from Duo's perspective, it seemed like doing three versions of it would spoil the surprise.**

**And, if nothing else, it was nice to completely caricature some of the characters for this chapter, boil them down to how they see each other. The joke being that none of the interaction is accurate at all.**

**Thanks for the reviews. All of them.**

**Just want to clarify something that was brought up in an earlier chapter. When Dorlinda mentioned that Crane died in the future, it was of natural causes, nothing sinister at all. Either way, it's not important.**

**The next one is entitled Free To Be You And Me. Preview below, up soon.**

**And, I've written a preview for the first episode of Poké Rangers: Cosmo Force. It's not below, or in the next chapter, but it will be there the one after. Promise.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Bill can reply for this chapter.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Forty Four, Free To Be You And Me, preview.**

**Luke: What the hell do you want?**

**Katie: It's good to be back in Eon City.**

**Duo: Another days work done.**

**Xavier: Just passing through.**

**Paige: Something's stopping us from leaving.**

**Ryan: What are these things?**

**Nahir: Whatever it is, I vote tracking it down and killing it. Painfully.**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	44. Free To Be You And Me

Chapter Forty Four. Free To Be You And Me.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_With their trials against Ortari behind them, the rangers went back to their regular business, business that was compounded with trouble when a warehouse blew up and the blue, black and purple rangers came out of the remains. As they started to fight each other all the way back to the Silver Gyarados, the three of them were kept apart and locked in different rooms, each while telling their stories. Although the versions were all slightly different, all three tales ended up at the same place, the warehouse. The three rangers confronted a mutant, Scendor and her Sirens, only to be heavily outnumbered, before Luke shot some petrol barrels, blowing the entire place up. Later, Bill revealed the outbreaks of violence had been caused by Scendor's touch..._

_

* * *

_

"Home, sweet, home. Seems like ages since I've been back here."

"Well, it has its benefits," Katie remarked, looking across at her friend. "You know what they say about absence making the heart grow fonder. All in all, it's good to be back in Eon City."

"True, very true."

"Can't believe it's been the best part of five years since I last came here," Katie said, still focused on where Helen was stood. "Think it's changed much?"

"I'd imagine that it's changed quite a bit," Helen replied. "I mean, if you think about it, buildings are likely to have been demolished, new stuff's probably going to have sprung up. There's other stuff as well."  
"Maybe a mall."

"Maybe a mall," Helen echoed. "Always thought that this place needed one."

As the two of them continued to walk on, they saw the outline of the building that they had been discussing, the sight of the Eon City mall making them both grin at each other.

"Called it," Katie remarked, offering her hand up for Helen to high five. With both of them displaying bright green hair, they could have been sisters to the casual observer. Not that many people within the small city wouldn't have recognised Katie for who she was.

The Pokémon League Champion of the Verger Region.

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. Crane appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefacts. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Dark Spectres hover above Coppinger mutant monsters._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord, North Wind Megazord and Silent Strike Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

"Greetings, Nurse Joy," Katie said, throwing the nurse a smile. "Can you heal my Pokémon? Please?"

"Of course," the pink haired nurse answered, taking the offered tray. "Welcome back to Eon City, Miss Myers. We were all watching and cheering for you when you took that fourth challenger on and defeated him. Congratulation on becoming champion."

"Pokémon League Champion?"

The question came from the other person at the counter, a black haired teenage boy wearing a red hoodie. Like her, he was waiting to have his Pokémon healed by the staff of the building, a slightly cocky smile on his face as he looked her up and down.

"Is that right?" he continued, still running his eyes across her. "Then again, I really should know these things..."

"Suppose you should," she answered, leaning on her elbow to return his roving look. "I'm up here."

"I know you are," he said, cockily. "Miss Myers."

"Katie actually," she replied. "Miss Myers is my sister."

"You have a sister?"

"Actually no, that's a terrible joke."

"You don't say," he commented, offering her a hand which she shook after a few seconds of trepidation. "Katie."

"You got a name, or just that annoying habit of trying to be charming?"

"The name's Jackson," he replied, winking at her. "Xavier T. Jackson."

"What's the T stand for?" she asked, curious despite the moment. "Sorry, that was a bit sudden."

"The T?" Xavier replied, phrasing his answer into a mock question. "It stands for... Thought that you'd ask."

"So, your name is Xavier Thought that you'd ask Jackson?"

"Not the only one who can make pathetic jokes," he shot back, grinning. "Right."

"Oh my," she muttered. "Is this the sort of person that lives in Eon City now? Random jokers who..."

"Just passing through," Xavier replied, still grinning at her. "How about a battle? I'm quite an accomplished trainer myself."

"That's what they all say," she said. "Really, are you any good?"

"One way for you to find out."

* * *

Coming out of the main entrance of the fertilizer factory, the one that his Father had sent him to in order to check things for himself, Luke Sunderland suddenly felt drained of energy, both physically and mentally. It was something that he couldn't explain, something that had washed over him like a bucket of water.

"Must be the heat," he muttered, glancing over to where his limo was parked and waiting for him, the air conditioned vehicle already calling for him. "Man, I need to get out of this place. When I'm back in the Orange Islands, that'll be cooler."

He hadn't taken more than five steps when he heard a shout.

"Mister! Excuse me! Mister!"

Being in the mood he was in, he had already decided to ignore the female voice calling him. Yet, as he moved closer to the limo, it didn't let up.

"Hey! You deaf?"

That was when he felt the hand on his arm, trying to stop him. The final straw, all pretence of ignorance gone.

"What the hell do you want?" Luke demanded, rounding on her. "I'm kinda in the middle of something."

The girl in question, a short teenage girl with dark hair, gave him a filthy look, one that was almost enough to make him recoil.

"What's your problem?" she demanded. "Seriously? I'm just wondering if I could grab a lift into town, but if that's going to be your attitude, forget it. I'll find someone who isn't such a huge jackass."

"Jackass, me?" Luke asked. "You're the one who's giving a complete stranger a hard time, Short Stuff."

The nickname didn't appear to help the situation, already at a nadir, it was in the process of taking a nosedive.

"I said forget it," she said, turning to head off in the opposite direction. "I'll walk in. Might meet a knife wielding trucker who kills hitchhikers, but whatever. Probably be better company than you. Anyway, the name's not Short Stuff, it's Nahir!"

"Fine then!" Luke shouted, yelling after her. "More room for me! Short Stuff!"

* * *

"Another day's work done," Duo mused, dropping his black coat onto the table in front of the gym leader of the city. "You knocked those two guys dead earlier, Ethan."

"Oh yes," Ethan replied, grinning at his friend. "Challengers come for the badge, they leave in tears."

"As it should be," Duo answered. "Well, I'm learning a lot. Like how to beat the stuffing from challengers."

"What about how to be gracious in defeat?" Ethan asked, raising an eyebrow. "Have you learned that?"

"Not yet. I'm working on it."

"Remember, one of the most important things a trainer can do is be unique," Ethan said. "That's one of the points in my DVD."

"Ah, the famous DVD," Duo remarked. "Still waiting for an autographed copy of that."

"Only reason I haven't given you one is because I'm suspicious. You'd probably sell it on the net."

"Well, I might watch it first. Not that it could tell me much more than what I already now."

Laughing, Ethan swallowed a mouth full of his drink, before saluting the teenager in front of him.

"You still have a lot to learn, my Apprentice," he said. "Another few months or so and I'll feel confident enough to put in your registration application to take the gym leader examinations."

"Sweet," Duo commented. "I like that idea."

"Out of all the apprentices that have come through my gym," Ethan said, as Duo's eyes shifted away to a sight behind him. "You are one of the best. Can't stress that enough... And, one benefit of becoming a registered gym leader is that you automatically get one free pass at the towns red light district."

When Duo didn't reply, he brought his hand up in front of the apprentice's face, clicking his fingers to drag him out of the reverie.

"You listening?" Ethan asked, before turning to see what his friend had spied, instantly realising. "Ah, I see. You like?"

"Hmmm, I'm thinking it's a chance to turn some of that old Roronoa charm on," Duo said, still watching the blond at the Pokémon Centre counter. "Wish I'd brought some with me... Ha, I jest. I've got plenty of it. I have charm coming out of my... Ears."

* * *

Glancing down at his watch as he approached her, Duo found himself wondering the best way to play it. The last time he had hit on someone in the Pokémon Centre, she had unleashed her Ampharos onto him, not something that he wanted to happen again. Electricity didn't agree with his system, but at least it wasn't fatal.

That said, sheer bravado counted for something. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it bombed. This time, there was only one way to find out, that was by jumping in feet first.

"Hi!" he said, confidently. "If I said..."

Bravado, or honesty? The question was still running through his head.

"Yeah?" she replied, turning to face him. "What can I do for you?"

"Do you have the time?" he asked, smiling down at her. "Because...?"

"There's a clock over there," she replied. "Behind you."

"Really, where?" he asked, trying to get a little more out of her. Just something that he could work with, anything at all...

She moved forward, stretching out her arm to point at the clock. That was when he stepped aside, the appreciative grin growing on his face as he realised that he'd got it.

"I win," he replied, softly. Almost immediately, he could see the puzzled look flash across her face. "I made a bet with myself that you look that good from every angle."

"Riiiight," she said, taking a step back away from him. "How long did it take you to come up with that one?"

"Honestly?" he replied. "Made it up on the spot."

"Yeah, I could tell," she said, sarcastically. "There are misses and then there are misses."

"Sometimes, you hit," he replied. "Was it really that bad?"

"It was original," she answered. "I'll give you that. But, it was still terrible."

Before he could reply, a thousand snappy comebacks all dying in his throat, the sight of his friend and mentor, Ethan, came into his vision, the gym leader sprinting on over.  
"Guess what I've just found out," he gasped, already in motion to move towards the door. "The Champion is fighting some random trainer outside!"

"Some random trainer?" Duo asked, glancing over at the gym leader. "That sounds... Wait, the Champion?"

* * *

"Blastoise, use Ice Fang!"

As Xavier gave the order, his water type Pokémon made a lunge towards the Gyarados that it was fighting, the coldest of ice forming across the curved lips. Across from him, Katie didn't react, keeping her arms folded in indifference as cold as the ice type attack that was about to be unleashed on her Gyarados. Upon the attack clamping down onto the serpentine throat of the Atrocious Pokémon, she reacted.

"Gyarados!" she yelled. "Twister Trap! Now!"

Her Pokémon responding to her command, the huge rear end of the long body came up, locking the Blastoise into a trap from which it could not escape despite the struggles it was putting up. Struggles that didn't last long before the bigger water type opened the huge jaws up to send a scathing blast of wind, infused with the power of dragons into Blastoise's face, bringing roars of agony from the turtle-like Pokémon.

"Gyarados, Thunderbolt!" Katie shouted, her expression not changing.

Across from the scene of the battle, where Duo and Ethan were watching the event, a tall fair skinned teenage boy had come by, watching it with interest.

"She's good," he remarked, looking over at the gym leader and his apprentice. "You think?"

"She is the champion," Ethan replied. "Think being good is quite a key requirement."

"Not only good," Duo mused, watching Katie across the battlefield from him. "She's quite hot as well."

"Oh, she's a stone cold fox," Ethan said, quickly. "Twenty first century fox."

"Agreed," the blond haired teenager commented, still talking to them. "Hey, I'm Ryan. Ryan Leopard. Actually, I came to look for you."

His comment was directed at Ethan, the gym leader nodding at the trainer in response.

"Sorry, I'm going to be out of town for a few days," he replied, apologetically. "It's not something that can be avoided, there's a family event that I need to take care of."

"Ah..." Ryan said, his face dropping. "I see..."

Out on the battlefield, the battle was almost over. The Blastoise had toppled, the heavy water type laid on its back, the skin still crackling with electricity, the limbs flailing wildly in defeat.

"That's a wrap," Ethan remarked, dryly. "He never had a chance."

* * *

It was moving towards night when Katie, out on her evening run, found herself on the outskirts of Eon City, very close to the absolute limits of the city. Next to her, keeping pace was her Vaporeon, the water type's paws pounding the pavement as she easily kept up with her trainer.

"Go about a hundred feet out of town and then we'll turn back," the trainer said, looking down at her Pokémon. "Remember when we beat up those Pidgey over there? You were just a cute little Eevee at the time."

"Cute little Eevee? There's a cliché in itself."

Glancing up, she saw a strawberry blond haired girl walking along next to her, the champion having being too focused on the run to notice her presence.

Good thing I didn't run into her, Katie thought. That might have been embarrassing.

"Cliché but true," she retorted. "Besides, even the most cold hearted cynic out there has to admit that Eevee is kinda cute. In that furry kind of way."

"Can't really argue," the stranger replied, shrugging her shoulders. "You heading out of town?"

"Not really," Katie answered. "I've been away from home for quite a while, I'm not really ready to leave yet."

"I've got no particular desire to stay," the stranger said. "The gym leader is leaving town, there's going to be a huge exodus of trainers coming and going over the next few days."

"I got his badge a long time ago," Katie remarked, offhand. "Take it you didn't"

"No," the stranger admitted. "This is my first time in Eon City."

"Enjoying it?"

"Can't complain. But, I'm getting ready to leave so that should really be slightly contradictory."

Pausing for a moment, the stranger looked like she was trying to consider something, before letting it go and speaking up.

"I'm Paige," she said. "I saw you on TV."

"I get that a lot lately," Katie muttered. "The price of fame, if only however fleeting. Suppose I should be enjoying it while it lasts."

"You ever gone into a restaurant and demanded a free meal?"

The question came from a familiar male voice, the two girls looking around to see Xavier coming towards them, a slight smile on his face.

"You know him?" Paige asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "Because..."

"Hate to admit it, but I've gotten a free meal because of my status," Katie admitted. "I haven't demanded one, but..."

"You're missing a trick."

Another voice rang out, this one coming from Ryan, as he and Duo came walking over to them, the gym leader's apprentice looking slightly starstruck as he gazed at the Pokémon League Champion.

"Should milk it for everything that it's worth," Ryan continued. "Like the time I wore a fake nose and pretended I was Nigel David Johns."

"The star of Roterminator and Everyone Hates Spencer?" Xavier asked. "Really, why him?"

"Thought it might be worth doing," Ryan commented. "It worked for a while actually. At least until I was rumbled. Anyway, my favourite thing he was in was Deoxys Vs. Clefable."

"That was a terrible movie."

Another voice had joined the group, this one being Nahir, the girl who Luke had encountered earlier, a wry smile on her face.

"Seriously, you think that Clefable would stand up against Deoxys in a fair fight?"

"Last time I checked," Duo said. "It wasn't a fair fight. They had weapons."

For a moment, silence reigned out as the group of six looked at each other, all surprised at what had just transpired.

"Anyone else ever got into a spontaneous discussion with five people you've never met before?" Paige asked, glancing around the room before settling her eyes on Duo. "Except you... You tried to hit on me earlier."

"How'd it go?" Ryan asked, looking over at the two of them. "You crash and burn?"

"Well, since we're both trying to leave the place separately..." Paige said, venomously. "What do you think?"

* * *

As the six of them approached the very reach of city limits, they saw a huge limousine parked up parallel to the sign signalling where they were. They could also see someone that Nahir knew as Luke, stood screaming at the empty space in front of him.

"Oh look," Duo said, grinning. "They let the founder member of the Well-Dressed-Lunatic-Society out of the asylum earlier. How about that."

Approaching, they heard what he was shouting, the anger clearly visible in his voice.

"Come on!" he yelled. "Come on! This is just stupid!"

"Or, it could be karma," Nahir commented, glancing at him. "Good, sweet karma. Thought that took years to kick in."

Turning, but ignoring her, Luke made a move back towards his limo, an angry expression on his face.

"This is ridiculous," he said, angrily. "If it's some sort of joke, then it's really not funny. Some of us have places to be, people to meet and greet."

"Aww dear," Nahir remarked, spitefully. "My heart bleeds for you."

"What's wrong?" Katie asked, looking at him. "Is there something wrong with your car?"

"My car doesn't go wrong," he replied, angrily narrowing his eyes at her. "There's... Try to leave. Take a nice long run up at it, you'll find out what's wrong."

This time, it was Katie's turn to ignore what was being said. Instead of taking his advice, she walked on over to the point of city limits, reaching her hand out...

... To discover that a solid, yet invisible barrier blocking the way, the presence of the thing keeping them from passing through.

"I've seen other people go through," Luke muttered. "Just me. And apparently you. Why are... Well, I know why I'm so special, but why you?"

"I see that your strength isn't in modesty," Ryan remarked, the rest of the group moving on over to the phenomenon to check whether they could get out or not. Only to discover that they were in the same situation as the other two, the invisible presence keeping them inside.

"Well, something's stopping us from leaving," Paige commented, slamming the palm of her hand against the invisible wall. "Which bites. Seriously, I've got better things I could be doing. Elsewhere."

"Woop woop, Princess," Luke said, sarcastically. "We all have. Bet mine are more important than yours."

"It's not a contest, moron," Nahir remarked. "So, stop treating it like one."

"How about no!"

"How about grow up!"

"I'd tell you to do the same, but I don't think it's going to happen now."

"Guys, be quiet!" Katie warned. "Luke, stop being an arrogant moron and making jokes about size. Nahir, stop being... Actually, you're doing nothing wrong other than reacting. So, if he knocks it off, you'd be..."

"Who died and made you God-King of the Universe?" Luke asked, giving her a dirty look. "Seriously, I want to know."

"Man, calm down," Xavier remarked. "It's not... Is arguing really the best thing to do right now? Not when we should be..."

That was when the element of calm was destroyed completely, the sentence left unfinished.

* * *

From out of nowhere, several large black Houndour headed robot figures appeared onto the scene, surprising the group of seven. Within moments, they were attacking, the helpless figures too shocked to defend themselves at first.

"What are these things?" Ryan yelled, struggling to try and escape from the grip of the Dogbot that was grappling with him. Even as it began to squeeze him, trying to crush the life from him, he flung an elbow back into its face, knocking it away. Before it could recover, he hit it with a spin kick and dealt even more damage to it.

Across the spectrum, the others were slowly moving to counter the threat. As a Dogbot tackled him to the ground, Xavier managed to wriggle away and punt it away with his foot. With it staggering back, he went for it again, mirroring the tackle that it had thrown down onto him moments earlier. Grunting with the effort, he managed to push it into the sign signalling the end of the city, the impact causing both of them some discomfort.

Meanwhile, Nahir was also battling hard, despite one of the Dogbots easily being slightly taller than her. She chose not to let that intimidate her, instead leaping up to kick it in the side. As it fell, she struck out again, this time catching it in the head, sending it to the ground. Another came behind her, trying to grab her. Before she could be tagged with the blow, she ducked under it and back kicked it into the stomach before turning to strike it in the face.

With the hit Dogbot staggering back from her blow, Luke came into hit it in the back of the head, knocking it down onto its stomach. Kicking out at it, he managed to get the dead weight up off the ground and towards another one of the cybernetic creatures. Pausing to celebrate for a moment, he was quickly taken out by another two of the creations tackling him to the ground. Before he could be punished for the lack of concentration, Katie and Duo came over onto the scene, grabbing them off him, the two trainers hurling the metallic beings away from the scene. As they went back, they hit each other, the damage severe enough to cause them both to start sparking as they crashed down to the ground.

Finally, Paige ducked under a thrown punch by one of the attackers, already pushing it back away from her. Able to get that moment of space, she scooped up a dropped tire iron that had been left beside the road before striking out, the heavy blow removing the head from where it perched on the shoulders of the mechanical abomination.

As the last one fell to the ground, falling apart from the stress, the seven humans looked at each other all in surprise.

"That was strange," Ryan mused. "But, intense. You think we're getting filmed doing this?"

"Vergers Most Violent Home Videos?" Nahir asked. "Seriously, you think that's what's happening?"

"It could be," Duo offered. "Either way, it's getting stranger."

* * *

"Let's talk about it first," Nahir started to say, as the seven of them sat down in the Pokémon Centre. "Because..."

"There's nothing to talk about!" Luke exclaimed. "These things are really intimidating, they're powerful..."

"Awww, someone's scared," Duo commented, sarcastically. "Bless."

"With good reason."

That came from Xavier, the wandering trainer speaking up as he looked around the table.

"Something set those things on us," he continued, stroking his chin. "Whatever it is, it obviously has incredible resources, something that no matter what we do or try, we'll never be able to match it."

"It set big Houndour headed robots on us," Nahir commented, sarcastically. "Whatever it is, I vote tracking it down and killing. Painfully."

"What if it's human? Not some disgusting space monster," Paige said, looking irritated by the comments. "That's just not what we're going to do."

"Then, we beat him up," Nahir concluded. "Painfully."

"We don't even know where to start looking!" Luke shouted, attracting looks from across the room. "So, what's the point?"

"That's why we track it down," Nahir shot back. "Listen!"

"I could watch this all day," Paige smirked. "Better than a soap opera."

"Guys, let's not fight this out," Katie interrupted. "We couldn't get out of the main exit to the city. There are others, I suggest we try all of them before panicking..."

"Okay, GK," Luke muttered, rolling his eyes. "Maybe I'll hang here until..."

"GK?" Katie asked, puzzled by what he had just said, not quite getting whether it was an insult or a compliment. Although, given the attitude of Luke for the last few hours, she wasn't quite sure why she was expecting a compliment.

"God-King," he clarified, letting his eyes roll up and across again in anger at the way she had failed to get his comment.

"Ah."

"Anyway, I might as well hang here until something happens," Luke said, settling back into his seat to make himself comfortable.

"Fine then," Ryan remarked. "You just wait here until something bad comes to you. I might be paranoid, but those things looked like they were after us, which means that they won't hesitate to come and do it again. At least if you come with us, you won't be alone."

"I'm considering taking my chances," Luke shot back. "So, there."

"You think we can make do without the nasty biting sarcasm every twenty seconds?" Nahir asked, slightly spiteful in her remark. "Because..."

"You've got that covered," Luke told her. "Maybe I'll come if it's going to annoy you that much."

"Don't force yourself," she said, disdainfully.

* * *

"Look at that," Xavier muttered, shaking his head as he watched Katie rap her hand against the solid yet invisible barrier that blocked them from leaving. "Same thing again. Anyone else feeling really worried?"

"Not really," Katie commented, before reconsidering. "Then again, although I wanted to stay home for a while, I don't think that I'll be happy being stuck here forever."

"If that's the case, you'll not be able to defend your Champion title," Ryan said, glancing over to her. "And then..."

"Actually, I'd be more worried about being trapped here," Katie replied. "Because I'm not sure that I want to stick around in this place forever."

"That was the plan!"

All of them reacted to the sudden interruption from behind, quickly turning to try and confront the speaker.

Yet, before they could get a proper glimpse of the figure that had stolen in on them, the scenery changed, all of them getting the sensation of being sucked through a very small tube.

* * *

Before, they had been in one of the streets at the exit of Eon City, looking out onto the inaccessible wilderness. Now, the seven teenagers found themselves in a murky room, a naked bulb at the ceiling to reveal splashes of what could have been red paint on the ground.

"Cosy," Duo commented, shrugging his shoulders. "Anyone else think that?"

"I'm more busy being worried, Joker," Luke remarked, sounding exactly as he had described himself. "You should be too."

"Seriously, what is it with you and nicknames?" Xavier asked, ignoring everything that was going on around them. "Because..."

Again, he was interrupted as a set of heavy footsteps began to crunch out, wood splintering under the weight of whatever was causing it.

"Meat grinder?" Paige asked, shrugging her shoulders. "That's what it could be."

"Or, it could be..." Ryan started to say, only for something to move through the wall in front of them, something that they quickly realised was a mutant creature.

"You should have kept your noses out," it remarked, sarcastically. As they looked at him, the seven of them quickly realised that the thing was like nothing that they had ever seen. Although it looked like a Heracross, the large blue body appeared to be made of smoke. It also had a pair of huge Gengar ears, as well as the spikes down its back. "Now, I'm going to break them."

"Clever!" Luke commented. "You come up with that yourself? Or did you use script writers?"

Barely half an instant later, he was being thrown back through the air via a telekinetic attack from the being, crashing against the wall behind them all.

"That should answer your question," the being retorted. "I am Smokehorn, your worst nightmare."

"Actually, my worse nightmare is..." Duo started to say before being hurled away through the air with the same attack that Smokehorn had used on Luke.

"Come on," the mutant taunted, looking across the others. "I was at least expecting some of a challenge!"

"Screw this," Xavier muttered, throwing himself forward to attack. As he closed in on Smokehorn, the mutant faded out to let the thrown punches pass through his system, before turning solid again to throw out a hand and toss Xavier up into the air, the trainer hitting the ceiling before bouncing off and crashing to the ground.

Next, it was Katie's turn to attack, going in to try and hit the monstrosity with a kick, only for the same result to happen as before. This time, he became solid again and grabbed her leg in mid-flight, running a claw across the smooth skin.

"Nice," he remarked, before flipping her up into the air where she landed on her stomach. As the Champion groaned in agony at the attack, he kicked her away. "This is more like it."

Behind him, Ryan and Nahir came in to try and take him from behind, the two of them attacking together. It made no difference as he phased out to take their attacks before grabbing both of them by the throat, one in each hand and let out a laugh.

"Come on!" he yelled. "Stop trying to hit me and hit me!"

"I'll bite!"

This time, Paige came into attack, striking out with a piece of metal pipe that she had found from somewhere. The attack landed, forcing him to drop Ryan and Nahir, but other than that there was no real reaction to the blow. Other than him turning to hit Paige in the face, the blow hurling her back across the dingy room, where she landed in a heap.

Having recovered from the earlier blow, Luke jumped up, hurling out a hand at Smokehorn. Although the attack, barely more than a weak slap passed through him, the right hand came up to deal a punishing hook into the recently solid Smokehorn, knocking him back.

"Clever," he muttered, rubbing at his face. "Sneaky. I like that! You've got promise. I'm going to break it across your head."

Again, Luke was hurled through the air with the power of Smokehorn's mind, crashing against the wall, he slid to the ground in pain. With the group still trying to get the best of the mutant, Duo and Xavier came into attack him. He turned into his gas form, allowing the two of them to crash through him and knock each other to the ground. Again, Katie came into attack, throwing out a left handed uppercut at him. Although it landed, he turned and belted her around the face, the powerful blow slinging her back through the air like she had been fired from a cannon.

"Can't we all just get along?" Nahir asked, charging at Smokehorn. This time, instead of turning into his smoke form, he stepped aside like a matador, plucked her up off the ground by the shoulders and tossed her into the ceiling. Smokehorn turned to see Ryan come in, before jumping up to kick the trainer in the chest and hit him back against Paige. As the two of them hit the ground, a group of Houndoom-headed robots appeared on the scene, flanking him. It was a purely irrelevant gesture, none of them were getting back up from the brutal abuse they had suffered in the fight, broken and bleeding on the ground across from him.

"Pathetic," Smokehorn commented, looking across the defeated teenagers. All around him, the Doombots were crowding onto the scene, all of the robots looking ready to murder. "I believed that you would be much more of a threat. I'm not going to bother myself, I have better things to do. I'll just let these things finish you off."

Taking a step forward for one final taunting glare, Smokehorn was shocked as Katie scooped up the piece of iron pipe and leaped to her feet, striking it against his head. With the mutant letting out a roar of pain, he staggered back and vanished from view, departing in a puff of dark smoke.

The momentary act of defiance gone, Katie sank to her knees in pain, realising that it had been futile. The Doombots he had brought with him were already advancing upon them, mechanised savagery upon their features, almost salivating with anticipation.

That was when Clarence appeared, the Conduit arriving onto the scene. Although none of them recognised him, even knew who he was, his presence was somehow reassuring to them. Clapping his hands together, he managed to dispel the Doombots into dust, the remains of the robots billowing down the ground in a cloud of brown silt.

"Huh?" Luke started to ask, before it all went black.

* * *

"Found them in time, huh?" Lance asked, looking across at the Conduit. "I would say good job, but it seems a little... Strange to be congratulating a being with infinite power on doing this."

"Whatever happened, it is over," Clarence replied, looking down at the seven rangers, all of them getting back onto their feet. All of them in severe discomfort after the ordeal, something that they still weren't quite sure as to the details of.

"Man, my head's killing," Xavier groaned. "Feels like I butted heads with a Rampardos."

"That's just a side effect," Clarence said, roughly. "I can see the seven of you are okay. Which is good."

"What happened?" Nahir asked. "Because, other than some surprisingly vivid memories of being trapped in Eon City, I don't know."

"Ortari happened," Clarence replied, grimly. "She hit the seven of you with a Temporal Displacement Grenade. Locked you into another reality completely. As soon as I found you, I had to intervene. It was either that or get seven veteran rangers to replace you, and that just sounded exhausting."

"Ortari, huh?" Duo asked. "Don't suppose there's a chance you can keep a better eye on those that are supposed to serve you in the future."

"Believe it or not, Mr. Roronoa, I believed her motives to be pure, chaste and devoted to my cause. That she turned traitor surprises me, that I am unable to track her down since she left her Time Hole is most annoying to me. I believe that she has employed a mystical protection across herself that renders her invisible to my omniscient eye."

"Great, that's all we need right now," Paige said, rolling her eyes. "So, what next?"

"The behemoth that you confronted in your vision," Clarence answered. "As we speak, he is attacking Eon City, just like he was in your alternate reality."

He paused for a moment, letting it sink in.

"You must stop him!" he said, slowly. "Oh, and if you happen across Ortari again, I'd appreciate a call."

"How we supposed to do that?" Ryan asked. "Pray?"

"A shout will do," Clarence answered. "Now, go! Take this threat down!"

* * *

As he swung his arm out, the huge blow destroying the building that it struck, Smokehorn heard something. A roar followed by a shout, and as he turned, he saw the Overload and the North Wind Megazords stood across from him, both in fighting stances. To make things worse, the Dialga Carrier was slowly rolling onto the scene.

"Genesis Ultrazord!"

At the command, the two Megazord's instantly began to disassemble. The Zords converting back into their robot forms, the back of the Dialga Carrier opened up. It didn't take long for the Zords to rush inside, the Flareon and Umbreon going in first, followed by the Vaporeon and Leafeon. Then the Jolteon and Espeon came on in, while the Glaceon brought up the rear. As the hatch at the back slammed shut, the seven Zords began to power up the Dialga Carrier. The Zord bursting into life, the eyes began to glow with a bright red energy. Within moments, the seven rangers materialised inside the cockpit up in the head of the machine.

"Say your prayers, Smokehorn!" Xavier shouted, as Katie began to input the command into the computer console.

"You're going to need them," the red ranger added, before hitting the fire key. "Let's do it!"

"Rainbow Fury Blast!"

With the giant machine responding to the seven shouts, the mouth slid open, unleashing a beam of seven colours through the air towards Smokehorn, the blast instantly raking through his permeable skin and destroying him from within.

"Shot through the heart," Nahir laughed, all of them watching him fall to the ground before exploding in a huge mix of smoke and fire. "And we're to blame..."

* * *

Upon returning to the Silver Gyarados, the seven of them found their support team all there awaiting the return, Bill still sat in front of his computer watching the aftermath taking place on the battlefield. Both Lance and Crane looked relieved that they had managed to get through the ordeals and trials of what had taken place in the last several hours.

That was when a beep rang out from the largest monitor on the desk in front of the PokéManiac, a flashing envelope appearing in the corner.

"We're getting an incoming message," Bill said, clicking on the icon. "Whoever it may be."

As the message opened up, a video clip of Clarence appeared in front of them, a weak smile upon the Conduit's face as he began to speak.

"Rangers," he said, softly. "You faced a dangerous situation earlier today. Yet, you came through it with flying colours."

"Red, black, blue, green, yellow, purple and white to be exact," Luke commented, sarcastically.

"That shows courage," Clarence continued. "You faced the might of the Coppingers without prior knowledge of what they were, or your powers. For that, I salute you."

On the screen, he gave them the action, his arm craned into the gesture.

"And, I managed to get some information for you in relation to your task," he said. "The Dogs are coming."

As the final word left his lips, the clip ended, the monitor going dark in front of them, silence reigning out until Katie spoke up.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**So, how many of you started to read and were wondering what the heck was going on?**

**If nothing else, it's a walk down nostalgia lane, and the highlight for me is the return of the Luke and Nahir arguments, the way they used to be.**

**But, hope that you enjoyed it.**

**Thanks for the reviews, all appreciated.**

**Point of order, it sees the return of Katie's friend, Helen, only ninety two episodes and a movie since she last appeared...**

**Next two chapters are entitled Thunder, Fire, Water and will reveal another artefact, as well as a familiar face from HeartGold and SoulSilver. And some legendary Pokémon as well.**

**The preview is below. And in that next chapter, there will be the Cosmo Force preview.**

**On a final note, Ortari is proving to be a problem.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review. Nahir can reply to this chapter.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Forty Five, Thunder, Fire, Water: Part One, preview.**

**?: Scientists here in Johto are reporting a strange phenomenon...**

**Bill: The Legendary Dogs are in Verger?**

**?: All my life, I have sought these things. Now, I get to unleash them upon the world.**

**?: Raikiller.**

**?: Enterror.**

**?: Suicurse.**

**Nahir: We have to bring them back.**

**Arbok: Somehow, they hold the key. There's an artefact to be had here.**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon. Thanks.**


	45. Thunder, Fire, Water: Part One

Chapter Forty Five. Thunder, Fire, Water: Part One.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As the rangers met Ortari, it became apparent that she had betrayed Clarence and was using them to power up the Infinity Shard. Before she could steal it, Crane and Dorlinda burst into her Time Hole, managing to take it back from her. After visiting a comatose Forsythia, Ortari tried to get her revenge on the rangers by sending them to an alternate reality version of Eon City where they had no knowledge of each other and no powers. Even despite that, they managed to fight through the challenge, defending themselves against a pack of Dogbots in the process. However, they were soundly beaten by Smokehorn in combat, the mutant leaving them for dead before Clarence intervened. Back to normal, the rangers took the Genesis Ultrazord and destroyed Smokehorn, before Clarence revealed that the Dogs were coming, a piece of information relating to an artefact..._

_

* * *

_

"I want an update on our situation."

The order came from Ortari as she walked into the hideout used by Dennis and Arbok, still looking very relaxed despite the tense situation that the Coppingers were finding themselves in.

"Then I suggest you ask nicely," Dennis replied, grumpily. Glancing over, he quickly noticed the huge dark mix of black and blue across her cheek, a bruise that hadn't been there the last time he had seen her. "Who clocked you?"

The question didn't go down well, the Lady of Time shooting him a venomous look of fury, something that was almost enough to make him wilt under the intensity of her gaze. Almost.

"One of the ranger's allies," she replied, casually. "He took me by surprise... And he hits very hard."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Arbok asked, looking at her with sympathy. "Because, that's a nasty bruise..."

"He broke five of my teeth and fractured my fantastic cheekbones," Ortari replied. "I had to go to the future and get some medical attention. The bruise is the last remnants, but I'm fine. There's some excellent surgeons in the fifty second century."

"What does our future hold?" Arbok wondered. "Since you're in that capacity of..."

"Right now, nothing," she said, realising that it was his turn to get an annoyed look. "Because you've been incredibly incompetent! Prattling on about my injuries, when you should be more concerned with finding those artefacts."

She paused for a moment, drawing breath. Her mouth was starting to hurt again, after the outburst. When she spoke up, it was more measured.

"If it really matters that much to you," she said. "I'm interested in revenge on Crane for this. It's not the priority, but I've been digging into his past. Or rather, his future, whatever you want to call it. I've already had a crack at him, but that was a failure. It'll be different here, he's more or less defenseless."

Again she paused, wondering why it was that she had felt the need to reveal that to them. She didn't answer to them, they didn't need to know what her left hand was doing in comparison to the way her right hand was doing everything possible to find the Genesis artefacts.

"Anyway, I'm going to ask you what you plan to do about the artefacts?" she said, again letting out a glare. "And, you better have a good answer."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. Crane appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefacts. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Dark Spectres hover above Coppinger mutant monsters._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord, North Wind Megazord and Silent Strike Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

"The Dogs are coming," Lance mused, leaning back in the seat. "What does that mean? You got any ideas? Since you're the genius of us all."

"I'm a genius," Bill replied, snappily. "I can't pull random pieces of information out of my ass at the beck and call of some supernatural being who can't or won't do a task himself."

Settling back in his seat, he let out an exhausted sigh before looking over at his friend.

"Sorry, I haven't slept in four days," the PokéManiac admitted, his head sagging. "Insomnia doesn't cover it. Guess I'm a little on edge."

"Who wouldn't," Lance commented. "That's... Seriously, four days? You ever think that some sort of sleeping pill might be a good idea?"

"Nah, I think I'm going to hibernate when we defeat the Coppingers," Bill laughed. "When that happens, I'm going to sleep for a month. The whole attacking monster thing is just... I find it hard to stay asleep when I know that one might pop up from out of nowhere."

"Thought that was the reason that we take cycles sleeping," Lance commented. "You and me... Maybe we should get Crane to join in on the action. What does he actually do around here?"

"Ah, his presence is soothing," Bill remarked. "Don't want to cast aspersion on you, but if a Coppinger monster ever got in here, I think he'd be able to take it on long enough to get some help."

He paused for a moment, allowing himself that time to rub his eyes, a chance to recover slightly.

"Guess I'll scan the globe again," he muttered. "Do me a favour and switch the radio on. Some music might lighten the mood."

"Sure," Lance replied, reaching over to the object on the shelf. "Hey, Bill. Don't work yourself too hard."

No sooner had he finished speaking when the voice rang out of the radio, something that made them both straighten up and look at each other in stunned disbelief.

_"Scientists here in Johto are reporting a strange phenomenon..." _the broadcast from the radio said, the voice cool and clipped. _"... The Legendary Trio of the region have been reportedly sighted several times in the last two days, not just in Johto, but also in Kanto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and, most recently in Verger. Tests have revealed that they have left the region, meaning that there it is a high chance of accuracy in the sightings."_

"What?" Bill said, leaping out of his seat. "The Legendary Dogs?"

"Do you think...?" Lance started to ask, before being interrupted by the PokéManiac still shocked by the concept.

"The Legendary Dogs are in Verger?" Bill asked, the shock still plastered across his face. "I'm still finding that hard to swallow. These things stick ostensibly in Johto, if they've moved here, things are bad."

* * *

"See, it's just good to get off the boat and out for a while," Xavier commented, as he, Paige and Crane made their way down the main street of Cuellar City. "If nothing else, there's the smell of the city and... stuff like that."

"Not quite how you worked it out in your head, huh?" Crane remarked. "But, I agree. It's nice to sample and sense the delights of Earth for a change."

"Because, where you came from before, you live on a space ship," Paige muttered, dryly. "Right?"

"I meant twenty first century Earth," Crane quickly amended, mentally kicking himself for the slip of the tongue. "Lot different from what it becomes."

"Can you tell us what it's like then?" Xavier wondered, looking over at the former ranger. "Because, I don't believe that I've heard that before."

"There's not as many people, not as many cities and not as many Pokémon," Crane replied. "The planet survives pretty well, especially when there's less of a strain on it."

"So, just out of interest," Xavier said. "Are there space ships? Faster than light travel, good living conditions..."

"There are those now," Paige offered. "Do the words Kyogre and MegaShip mean anything to you?"

"Yeah, now you come to mention it..." Xavier remarked, before Crane stiffened up. His expression moved across the street, landing on a woman in her early twenties stood next to the entrance of an alley. The figure had long silver hair, enough to cover her left eye. She was wearing a blue shirt over a black tank top, her hands in the pockets of her jeans.

"Friend of yours?" Paige asked, looking at Crane with surprise. "Because, other than the people who've been connected to your ranger work, you've not really..."

Ignoring her, he began to run across the road, moving towards the figure, only for the woman to go into the alley.

"What's his problem?" Xavier asked, watching Paige already making to follow him. "Because, now I'm really curious!"

* * *

Moving into the alley, Crane began to scan the surrounding area, suddenly feeling a mixture of worry and surprise. There was no way that she would be here, no reason for it to happen. It was all wrong...

... That was when he ducked down, evading the punch thrown at his head from behind. Rather than turning, he threw his right leg out behind him and kicked the attacker in the stomach, then turning to face whatever it was.

"You again!" he yelled, recognising the figure in front of him. For the second time in thirty seconds, he was surprised, having seen someone that he hadn't been expecting to see. The difference was, he mused, kicking out at the monstrous being in front of him to force it back, he wasn't happy to see this one. In front of him, stood a Delibird-like creature, the normally red feathers a mixture of black and yellow stripes. It carried no sack, while its beak and talons were a white colour. Upon its face, it wore a sarcastic smirk.

"Crane!" the creature boomed, throwing out a wing-like arm towards him, forcing him into ducking again. "I see you liked my glamour... I pull it off pretty well, right?"

This time, he kicked out at Crane, the sharp talons catching the former ranger in the stomach and digging in. As Crane gasped out in pain, he pushed the creature back and grabbed it by the leg, managing to spin it around and toss it towards the wall. Rather than hit the outside of the building, the figure recovered and turned to unleash an Air Slash at his opponent. Recognising the danger, Crane hurled himself away, feeling the razor sharp slash rake across his stomach, cutting through the cloth of his shirt. Realising that he hadn't suffered any serious damage from the attack, he was able to dodge another punch from his opponent, before kicking it back with a roundhouse.

"Come on, Freeth," he said, watching the being stagger back. "Didn't you learn the lesson last time?"  
"Oh, it's different this time," Freeth taunted. "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger. Oh, and you're weaker."

Upon finishing speaking, Freeth lunged forward, trying to impale Crane upon his beak. Instead of reacting to defend himself, the former ranger reached out and grabbed his enemy by the throat, barely managing to stop him from landing the attack.

"I've still got some tricks up my sleeve," Crane replied, swinging out his left hand to smash a punch into Freeth's face. As he let go of the throat, he swung up to deliver a two handed punch into the face of his opponent, staggering him back. With Freeth on the ropes, Crane sprang up and landed a brutal spin kick into the being's face, sending him to the ground. "And, you're not that much better."

Seething from the taunt, Freeth rose up from where he had landed, hurling a multitude of blows at Crane, all of which landed without fail, the former ranger too stunned from the quick recovery to react.

"You want to bet on that?" he demanded, as Crane sank to his knees. He brought his arm up to throw another punch. "Because, that's very hurtful..."

Before he could land the blow, a morphed Paige leaped onto the scene, hitting the Delibird-like figure with a flying kick that threw him back away from Crane.

"Can't take you anywhere," she commented, looking down at her boyfriend. "Did you have to pick a fight?"

"Thought it might be necessary," Crane replied, as Xavier came on over to help, also in his ranger suit.

"This isn't over!" Freeth warned, picking himself up. "You'll see me again, Crane!"

"Don't make it too soon," the former ranger warned, as the being vanished away in a flurry of freezing cold wind. "Familiarity breeds contempt."

"That's pithy," Xavier remarked, watching the former ranger climb up to his feet. "Really pithy. Want to let us know why he attacked you?"

"Come to think of it, who was that girl?" Paige asked, suspiciously. "Come on, level with us?"

"That was Freeth," Crane replied, speaking out after pausing for a moment to consider what he was going to say. "I've had a run in with him before, it didn't go so well for him. He seems to have picked up a few new tricks from somewhere..."

"Is he going to be a problem?" Xavier wondered. "Because, we clearly don't have enough to worry about lately."

"It's not like you've got any Dark Spectres or Cobra Rangers to worry about any longer," Crane said, snapping slightly at the question. "But, I wouldn't expect you to. This is my problem, he's got a vendetta against me."

"If you've fought against him before, how did he end up here?" Paige wondered. "What is he? Dark Spectre?"

"I doubt it," Crane replied. "Whatever he is, he's not going to stop any time soon. Don't worry about him, he's not going to go after you guys. I'm his target."

"And, you're not worried?" Paige asked, surprised. "Because, it's not like you have any power now."

"Other than the ability to keep a secret," Xavier muttered, dryly, a comment that Crane chose to ignore.

"I don't know," Paige said. "If nothing else, you should maybe get your G-Force Morpher back from Dorlinda. Take him on that way."

* * *

"Greetings!"

The voice came from the entrance of the hideout, the one that Dennis and Arbok had shared for the best part of six months now. In all those months, they hadn't felt the need to call in outside help, other than their brief alliance with the Dinosians far in the future. However misguided it might have been, Dennis had chosen to place his faith within the eight other Coppinger Elites under his command. And eventually, he had slowly realised that it had failed, and if he didn't do something quickly, Ortari would turn out to be a real problem. After the fiasco with the toxic spores, he had made the call out to Johto, determined to call in an undercover specialist who might be able to actually do something.

"I can see that you look a lot different now to what you did before," the figure remarked, coming into the light where he could see both Arbok and the leader of the Coppingers. He wore a purple suit, with a black shirt and red bow tie combo beneath a white cape. He also carried a silver tipped cane and had light brown coloured hair that was about a crueler than normal face. "Nice scales, are they real?"

"Hello, Eusine," Arbok commented, walking over to greet the Operative. "Good trip?"

"Can't really complain too much," Eusine answered, folding his arms. "Damn, Arbok, you look worn out."

Remembering the plan, Arbok hurled out an arm, forcing Eusine down in a sharp motion to smash his face against one of the work benches, knocking him out cold.

"Excellent," Dennis said, coming over to glance down at the prone form of the undercover agent. "That was very well executed, I suppose you can do something right."

"Awww, thanks, boss," Arbok muttered, sarcastically. "You honour me with your compliments."

* * *

"All I'm saying is that you should consider it," Paige said, as she and Xavier followed Crane into the bridge of the Silver Gyarados. "Because... I don't want to see you get seriously hurt by that thing. He'd got you on the ropes before, if we hadn't got there..."

"I think it was pretty even," Crane replied, stubbornly. "And, just so you stop asking me, that girl he posed as... Someone I know in the future. He obviously wanted to get my attention."

"I'd say that was his one big win of the day," Xavier muttered, as Luke glanced up from where he was sat reading a golfing magazine against the back wall of the room.

"What happened?" the purple ranger asked. "We miss much?"

"Crane was attacked by a strange mutant thing," Paige replied. "We're all worried... Scratch that, I'm terrified for him."

"Come on, Paige," Crane said, reaching out to touch her on the shoulder, extending out his fingers to stroke her neck. "I'm not worried. I took him on before..."

"And did you, or did you not use your powers to take him on at that time?" the white ranger asked, not letting up her gaze on him. "Because, I really would like to know what your big plan is if he attacks you again."

"Pretty much the same," the former ranger replied. "I really don't want to get my morpher back from Dorlinda, because it'll lead to a huge amount of questions, I'll have to answer them, he'll take that attitude that I should have done a better job of killing him last time I faced him..."

"Well, why didn't you?" Luke wondered, shooting another glance up at him. "Problem solved."

"Gee, you think that didn't occur to me?" Crane said, sarcastically. "It's kinda hard to explain... By that, I mean that I don't know."

* * *

Groaning slightly as he sat up, Eusine felt like hell. A feeling he hadn't experienced since his last birthday, a time that had seen him celebrate more than was feasibly healthy for any one person. Reaching up to his head, he stroked one of his new huge ears...

Wait, my new huge ears?

Leaping up with a start from where he lay, he quickly saw a mirror in front of him, the reflective surface showing his new appearance in all of its glory, completely shocking him.

"Interesting, huh?" Arbok said, sarcastically. "They real, or...?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Eusine screamed. "You knock me out and then do this to me? Seriously..."

Although his body was still human shaped, he was now covered in brown and gold fur, his clothes having vanished from view somehow. Upon his shoulders, he wore a pair of Electrode style shoulder guards. Rather than his regular face, he had the facial structure of an Alakazam, a cane in his hand rather than the spoons that the Psi Pokémon usually carried.

"He did it under my orders," Dennis replied, glaring down at the Operative. "Now, I'm going to tell you a story. You're not getting your regular appearance back until we assemble the complete set of something known as the Genesis Book. Our intelligence has lead us to believe that a subject quite close to at heart is linked to this. The Legen..."

"Your intelligence?" Eusine asked. "Come on... Seriously?"

"We have our source who has fed us this information," Dennis said, glaring down at the new mutant. "You want to query it? The Legendary Dogs are linked to it somehow, they are here in this region. In your new form, you can capture them. Unleash your power upon them, make them like us so that they can reveal the location of the artefact to us. Then, they can help us destroy this world."

"All my life," Eusine said, stroking his chin. "I have sought these things. Now, I get to unleash them upon the world."

"Simple things, simple minds," Arbok muttered. "Wonder if that'll keep Ice Queen happy."

"Don't get too happy," Dennis warned, ignoring Arbok's comments. "We've given you the tools to hunt these things down. Don't fail us!"

"Somehow, they hold the key," Arbok added, quickly. "There's an artefact to be had here, if we can work out how to get it from them."

* * *

"You found any trace of the Legendary Dogs?" Katie asked, looking across the room at Bill. "Because, if there's a link, we need to find them. Plus, there's that report that they're here in Verger..."

"Hey, Duo," Nahir said, glancing to the black ranger. "You ever see any of the Legendary Dogs in your native Johto?"

"Nope," he replied, before reacting suddenly. "Seriously, you think if I that had happened, I might have mentioned it by now?"

"Thought you might be being modest," the yellow ranger replied, before the trio of Luke, Ryan and Paige all let out bursts of raucous laughter at that thought.

"What?" Duo asked, giving them all startled looks. "I'm not even close to being the most immodest one here? Right, Luke?"

"Don't know what you're looking at me for," the purple ranger retorted. "That was the old me. Now, I'm..."

"More of the same," Xavier muttered. "You know it's true."

"Does the phrase 'go and bite me' come to mind?" Luke shot back. "Because..."

"Errr... Guys?" Bill said, looking around at the bickering group. "Hate to interrupt this lovely little chat, but there's something here on the screen that you should see."

* * *

It had been a challenge, but Eusine's faith in his own abilities had finally become justified. As he stood on the portable aerial platform, looking down at the three fleeing beasts below him, this was the most alive that he had felt in years. All through that time, he had known that he could capture the three Legendary Dogs, not just Suicune, if the wind was right, his luck held out and all the pieces fell into place at the exact moment that he needed them to.

After years of failure, it had finally happened. Arbok had put together a device, the Coppinger scientist displaying the knowledge to build up a sonic beacon that would lure the three beasts to a certain location, at which point he would attempt to convert them to the Coppinger cause. In the past, he had seen a group attempt to capture Raikou via the use of a similar method, using a gadget to lure and harm electric type Pokémon. This didn't operate in the same way, instead unleashing a frequency that could only be heard by the beasts. They had come, he had attacked. Instead of relying on his Pokémon as he had done in the past, he had brought his new mutant abilities into the fray. A few Psybeam attacks thrown at the creatures had soon brought them fleeing, but thanks to another of Arbok's inventions, the portable flying device had easily enabled him to keep up with them. Every few moments, one of them would pause to fire an attack at him, yet their best efforts to take him out of the sky had been negated by the barriers of the Protect attack he now had in his armoury.

Throwing his hand out, he sent another attack, this one a ball of psychic energy towards Raikou as he spied the Legendary Dog trying to pull away from the pack. The blast landed, raking across the Pokémon's side, forcing him back into the group along with Suicune and Entei. This started to make Eusine think, as it stood, the trio were in full motion, almost impossible to stop. Even with his abilities, they were still plenty dangerous. If he moved in front of them, their momentum would flatten him, which meant that he needed to try something else.

That was when he spied the city up ahead of him, a dark and delicious thought flickering through his mind before he began to speed up and drive them in the direction of the buildings in the distance...

* * *

They hit the city limits like a freight train. It must have been a sight to behold, the Coppinger Operative thought, suppressing a grin. Three iconic beasts, not native to the region, streaking into this unnamed city, chased by a mutant stood on what amounted to a mini-flying saucer with five bits of metal around it. If it had been something he had seen, the excitement would have been at a peak. If it was someone else...

The screams were testament to what they really thought. A flash of anger shot through Eusine's mind as he realised that they were not in awe at the sight before them, rather they felt fear.

I'll show them fear, he grimly thought, raising his head to look ahead. If he could just drive them into a corner, he'd have them. Maybe the three of them would knock themselves out on a building, saving himself a lot of time and effort.

That was when a burst of fire raked through the air, striking him in the rear of his contraption. Spinning around, he saw that Entei had broke stride and stopped to attack from behind while his attention had been on the road ahead. Gulping, he turned back to see both Suicune and Raikou making leaps at him from the front. It was almost an instant reaction to throw up his Protect, the orb flashing out to defend him from their attacks. And, as they crashed into the thick invisible barrier, he flashed up his cane and poked each one with the tip of the balance aid, injecting them with a brand of his own special concoction. The power surging through them, the two Legendary Dogs were somehow instantly able to burst through the shield, knocking the platform down towards the ground below. Leaping free of the failing item, Eusine hurled his cane towards Entei, the tip piercing the chest of the rusty coloured Pokémon to force it back startled. Roaring out in proud anger, the creature opened up its mouth to unleash a Flamethrower at him. Again, Eusine was thrown into motion, leaping aside as the stream of flames raked through the air past where he had been before crashing into the fallen platform, instantly causing it to explode...

* * *

"Aww man!" Xavier yelled, as he and the other rangers made their way onto the scene, the chaos all around them after the explosion of the platform. "We're too late."

"Maybe we're not," Katie said, scanning the vicinity for any signs of life. "Maybe..."

"Maybe you are all just in time."

Completely unharmed by the ordeals, Eusine rose up from the flames, dusting himself clear of the ash that had found its way onto his body.

"You must be the Poké Rangers," he said, applauding them in a sarcastic tone. "Bravo for showing up..."

Behind him, he could hear the sound of heavy footsteps, the shifting of rubble and the movement of something.

"... But, I'm afraid you are too late," he said, making a sweeping motion towards the creatures behind him. "Behold!"

Moving out of the inferno, the three creations moved into view, the sight of them enough to make each individual ranger recoil at their presence, before they began to speak.

"Raikiller!" roared the beast that Raikou had become, rubbing together his clawed hands. He still looked like Raikou, only now in a human shape, as were the other two. The yellow furred body was packed with muscles below the pelt, while he carried a huge yellow axe in his hands. The face remained the same as it had been before, bar the teeth being much sharper than they had been before.

"Enterror!" the mutant version of Entei bellowed, much like Raikiller being a heavily muscled bipedal version of the Legendary Dog of Fire. Unlike Raikiller, he carried a huge red coloured mace in his hands.

"Suicurse!" the final mutant screeched, this one being the transformed version of Suicune. She was slightly less muscular than the other two, but made up for it by wearing some light blue coloured armour made of a thick metal. Upon each hand, she wore a trio of sharp metal claws, while also carrying a large broadsword.

"Behold my trio of warriors," Eusine chuckled, looking across at the rangers. Tapping his cane against the ground, the three warriors began to slowly move towards the seven figures, each of them wearing the almost identical mean expression. "Aren't they just perfect. Perfectly formed, perfectly armed... Perfect at destruction."

"Got to hand it to them," Ryan commented. "I thought the Coppingers had the market covered on insane lunatics who abuse Pokémon for their own purposes... Apparently not, they keep on coming out of the woodwork."

"Now, I can see that you're yearning to fight them," Eusine said, tapping his cane to stop them from moving any closer to the rangers. "But, we have more pressing issues at hand. There's always next time for that... Until then, ciao, Rangers."

With that, the four of them teleported away in a cyclone of fire, lightning and water, leaving the seven rangers alone in the scenes of destruction.

"Awww, man!" Paige groaned. "This just got worse. A lot worse."

"We have to bring them back," Nahir said, gasping to recover some breath, the yellow ranger having been holding it ever since the scenes had started. "Or, this is going to turn really ugly, really quickly."

"Don't you mean uglier?" Duo asked, rhetorically, before realising that the others were looking at him strangely. "What?"

* * *

To Be Continued...

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Well, that's the first part of the final two part episode of the season. Don't know whether to be sad or not.**

**Somebody is going to be very surprised at one of the split second cameo's in this chapter. It will be explained some day to the rest of you...**

**Poor Legendary Dogs... Can they pull through it? Can the rangers save them?**

**And, Ortari isn't at all bitter about the previous confrontation with Crane. Sending Freeth at him is just a bit low...**

**A third anime/video game figure is revealed to be a Coppinger, alongside Noland and Harley. What are the odds? Besides, I always thought that Eusine could be a bad guy...**

**The next episode is the second part, the preview is below... Aaaaand, there's also the Cosmo Force preview. Excerpt from Poké Rangers Cosmo Force: Episode One: Today: Part One.**

**Only six episodes left after this one...**

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**

**Seriously, don't forget to review... Crane is replying for this chapter.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Forty Six, Thunder, Fire, Water: Part Two, preview.**

**Luke: What's the plan?**

**Katie: Save them.**

**Paige: Nice to see that we're not over complicating it.**

**Ortari: I told you to hurt him considerably.**

**Crane: Come on, Freeth! Let's do this!**

**Katie: You want a plan? I've got a plan...**

**Coming soon.**

**

* * *

**

**And now... The official preview for Poké Rangers: Cosmo Force.**

"Holy mother of Xanthel!" a Collusc shouted, taking several steps back away from the scene. "He's got some sort of bomb!"

Even as the shout rang out, panic was already spilling out, the rampaging scientist managed to hurdle the barrier, past the idle Cosmo Force cadets and slammed his bag down in front of the huge statue of Romenetra the Sixth, a Mewtwo-like alien who had been part of the group who had discovered the Stronghold. Still surprised by his sudden appearance on the scene, the cadets were now moving to engage him, ready to take him into custody. Before they could reach him, he turned, a fully automatic Blaster Pistol in hand. They couldn't even react before the barrage of laser fire downed them, the shots ripping through their armour and defences before taking them to the ground. Still jittery, Roselli went back to his bag, pulling it apart to reveal a circular grey metallic device, a key pad of numbers in the middle. Already keying in a combination, Roselli felt it whir into life below his fingertips, that all the confirmation that he needed to step back, counting down from three, two, one...

As the device exploded, the world seemed to end. The white marble floor cracked open like a nut, huge streams of black energy began to billow out from it, a crack in reality beyond it spewing out the shadow coloured matter. Within seconds, the falling drops of energy began to reform, mutating into vicious featureless clawed beings the same colour as the matter that formed them.

* * *

All around them, it was happening. The black creatures, shaped so much like humans were running amok around the Stronghold, attacking anything that moved, destroying anything that didn't. Two Choklian security guards stood at the entrance to a bazaar turned to see what the commotion was, only to be ripped apart by the rampaging Oblivings, the muscle for hire ineffective at defending themselves against this strange new threat.

Some tried to fight back. An elderly Psorian dropped his spoon shaped walking stick and hurled a blast of psychic energy into the crowd, his courageous act intended to force them back towards where they had come. Instead, only a few were dispelled by the blast, the rest going for the Alakazam inspired alien. No sooner had he made his stand, he was downed, his body vanishing beneath the writing black masses of screeching.

More were soon attacked, the various aliens either running or fighting as best they could, neither option seeming to make much of a difference. The relentless forces kept on coming, more Oblivings appearing through the tear in reality that had been formed by the distressed scientist and his makeshift bomb.

Not hesitating to cause more chaos, some of the Oblivings had turned their attention to the statue of Romenetra, the slight shadowy creatures already climbing up the body to get to the head of the bronze structure...

... Only for several barrages of laser fire to erupt out, striking them down. As a new battalion of Cosmo Force Cadets, at least fifty of them in the group, raced onto the scene, the Oblivings quickly realised a new challenge was upon them, the black spectral creatures already rushing to engage the new threat to the success of their attack...

* * *

**Coming soon...**


	46. Thunder, Fire, Water: Part Two

Chapter Forty Six. Thunder, Fire, Water: Part Two.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_As the rangers mulled over Clarence's information, the message that the Dogs were coming, Ortari was paying a visit to Dennis and Arbok demanding further results. Those results were apparently going to be strengthened by the arrival of Eusine, a Coppinger from Johto. Upon being forcibly mutated, Eusine took some gadgets and went to hunt down the Legendary Dogs who had been sighted in the region. He found them, chasing them into a city where he managed to corner and mutate them into Raikiller, Enterror and Suicurse, before leaving the shocked Poké Rangers hanging on. Elsewhere, Crane encountered an old enemy in Freeth._

_

* * *

_

Groaning slightly in pain, the being known as Freeth made his way into the alley, clutching his ribs in an attempt to force them into healing faster than they currently were.

"Damn Crane," he groaned. "You're going to regret this! I mean it."

"I assumed that he already would."

That voice came from the woman who had hired him, the still-bruised Ortari slinking into the alley, her defects not hiding her anger.

"I told you to hurt him considerably!" Ortari snapped, advancing on the creature she had hired. "You've failed twice now..."

"Both times, you've fed me dodgy information," Freeth retorted. "The first time you approached me, you said that he was powerless..."

"When you were nearly destroyed, who pulled you out of the firing line?" she asked, still glaring at him. "I saved you from him, so that you could come and do the job in this time."

"He might be powerless, but he's certainly not defenceless," Freeth complained. "Even without those powers, he's still a fearsome fighter..."

"Are you a proud warrior or not?" Ortari demanded. "You can't even defeat one lowly human!"

That scathing comment drew a reaction from Freeth, as the Delibird-like creature rounded on her, making a menacing move towards where she stood.

"You dare to call my heritage into question?" he demanded, bringing an arm up to grab her by the throat. "I should..."

No sooner had he clamped his wing-like arm around her throat, did he let out a scream of pain and leap back, the pain given off by the intense heat racing up his arm.

"Really?" Ortari asked, reaching down under her blouse to reveal a white crystal-like stone upon a chain. "You think I'm going to give you a chance to manhandle me? Tempero-regulator. Your race is primarily one that lives in cold areas, you're essentially an ice type creature... This little contraption reacted to the low temperature of your skin as you touched me and shot my body temperature up five thousand degrees to counteract it. Handy little device, modified of course. Add in a little temporal shielding to prevent me taking any damage from the superheating... All in all, means that you can't touch me."

She paused for a moment, shooting a stern glare at the wounded Freeth, the creature still clutching his scorched hand.

"Now, are you going to get the job done or not?"

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. Crane appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefacts. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Dark Spectres hover above Coppinger mutant monsters._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord, North Wind Megazord and Silent Strike Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

"Just can't stress it enough," Xavier muttered, tossing something at the wall in dismay. It could have been a pebble, could have been a coin. "That was harsh what happened to them."

"Don't suppose that we could have expected much more," Nahir commented. "It's not like criminal gangs have ever tried to make a Legendary Pokémon their bitch before."

"Amen to that," Duo remarked. "There are better things to made a bitch to..."

"I'll testify to that," Luke commented, reaching over to high five the black ranger, much to the disgust of both Paige and Nahir, the two female rangers shooting them a pair of dirty looks.

"What?"

"Sometimes, I don't even know why I bother," Paige said, shaking her head in disgust. "You guys are..."

"I think we just got an illuminating glimpse into something," Ryan piped up, a smirk on his face, something that kept as everyone on the bridge looked over at him. "Now, it's my turn to say what?"

* * *

"Greetings, my perfect creations," Eusine said, bowing slightly as the three beings walked into the hideout used by Dennis. "Please, come on in, it's so excellent to have you here."

"Okay, that's impressive," Dennis remarked, glancing across at the trio. "I'm even going to ignore the fact that you're going on like a teenage girl..."

"Burn," Arbok muttered, as Dennis moved on over towards Raikiller, Suicurse and Enterror, a smug grin upon the Coppinger leader's face as he did so.

"Welcome," he said, an oily tinge to his voice. "Welcome to the Coppinger HQ."

"Coppingers?" Raikiller asked, suspiciously. "You did this to us?"

"He did," Arbok corrected, pointing over to Eusine. "If there's any griping with the whole process, you should entirely take it out on him."

"Well, that sounds interesting," Suicurse remarked, scratching her chin with one of the steel claws. "Very interesting indeed. But, I think there are things we could rather be doing."

"Why would we want to take it out on him?" Enterror wondered, an evil grin appearing across the rusty brown furred face. "When he's given us this whole new lease of life?"

"So... You like it then?" Eusine asked, breathing a huge sigh of relief. He had been worried for a moment, worried that one of the three would take Arbok's advice and turn on him.

"I wouldn't say like it," Raikiller commented. "But, there is definitely something in there. Something compelling."

Away from the communication, Arbok was watching with interest. In all his time studying the energy given off by the Genesis Book, he had long suspected that the stuff changed the perception of Pokémon. Subverted them towards the joys of destruction, all while keeping what made them what they were. They were more inclined to violence because of the horrors subjected to them in the transformation, that much he had suspected. Seeing it in action upon something more powerful, his theories were all being clarified and confirmed. These things wanted to cause violence, it was there in the demeanour that they were showing.

"Okay then," Dennis said, interrupting the musings from the scientist. "I guess that if nothing else, there's something that we need to know about. Something that you can help us with."

* * *

"Ah, Crane," Dorlinda remarked, looking up at the figure walking into the Time Hole. As Crane came on over, the Lord of Time stood up from his recliner, offering out a hand. "Hello there, I wondered how long it'd be before I saw you again."

"Guess I can't stay away, right?" the former ranger replied. "Were you expecting me?"

"Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't," Dorlinda answered, before breaking out into a grin. "Wow, I'm being almost as mysterious as you lately. At least you with your friends. They are still your friends, check?"

"Are you trying to be a comedian?"

"No, I'm reading a book on small talk," Dorlinda replied, shrugging. "I take it that this isn't a social call."

"Maybe I should do that more often," Crane mused. "It might shake you up a little, take you by surprise."

"Now, who's trying to be funny?" the Lord of Time asked. "Does this have anything to do with the appearance of a certain figure who attacked you earlier in the day?"

"You know about that?"

"It would appear so," Dorlinda answered, folding his arms. "I imagine that you are worried about another attack from him and are here to try and gain some method of defending yourself."  
"Actually, I was trying to work out how he got here," Crane replied. "Last time I fought him... It wasn't in this time."

"That's what you want to know?" Dorlinda asked. "Trust me here, Crane. I'm really interested. You had power the last time you faced him, you couldn't destroy him then..."

"Only because of some bad luck," Crane protested, reacting to the comment. "He sort of... Vanished."

"... So, how do you plan to fight him without your powers?" Dorlinda wondered, reaching over to grab up a box which he held out to Crane. Tapping away at a hidden button on the side, the box slid opened up to reveal seven morphers. Five all the same, one shaped like a Beldum and the final in the design of a Houndoom. "Because, I can help you out with that. When you fought him before, it was pretty evenly matched. Why not tip it away into your favour."

"I wouldn't like to resort to it," Crane admitted, softly. "I mean... Who needs morphing?"

"Crane," Dorlinda said, plucking one of the morphers out of the box. "Cut you half way. Take it with you, please. That way, if it's needed, you have it."

"Can't you just get me a 422A Reverser Automatic Blaster Rifle?"

The answer was a flat refusal from the Lord of Time, instead of trying to argue the case, Crane reached out and took it from him.

"Thanks, I guess," he replied, slightly begrudgingly. "Never know, I might not need it."

"Don't suppose that you want to explain the sudden aversion to morphing," Dorlinda remarked, watching the former ranger strap the morpher onto his wrist. "Or, is it one of those things that's better not said?"

* * *

"Unfortunately, that part of us is locked away," Raikiller said, rather begrudgingly. "We can't help you with that particular thing, but if it helps, we could aid you in taking this world apart piece by piece."

"Is that what you want?" Eusine asked, sounding genuinely surprised. "That wouldn't have been what I'd have expected."

"You got a problem with it?" Enterror demanded. "Because..."

"Nope, no problem at all," Eusine quickly replied, taking a step back. "I salute this destruction. Go forth and attack if that is what you desire."

"Desire!" Raikiller spat, choking it out like it was a filthy word. "You want to talk about desire. You know what really irritates me? In our previous lives, we wander the regions, minding our own business. Humans. They irritate me. Rather than let us go about it, they choose to try and capture us and why?"

"To use us as trophies," Suicurse continued, bitterly. "Our power is not for anyone other than ourselves to contain. They sought to capture us, intent on unleashing that power to help them better themselves. If nothing else, we should at least return some of the favours."

"They wish to see our true power?" Enterror chuckled, stroking his mace as he spoke. "Then, we shall oblige them. It would be rude not to."

"I shall be watching you as you do," Eusine said, regaining some of his composure that he had lost before. "It would be an honourable pleasure."

* * *

"Here it comes!" Bill yelled, leaping up out of his seat as the alarms around the boat rang out to signal the appearance of a mass Genesis energy surge. Glancing down at his monitors, he saw the three figures that had been the Legendary Dogs on screen, attacking Holimar City. Around him, the rangers were all stood to attention, waiting to mobilise out and do the act of defending.

"What's the plan?" Luke asked, looking across at Katie. "I take it that we have one."

"Indeed we do," the red ranger replied. "Save them. Stop Eusine. Go home."

"Nice to see that we're not over complicating it," Paige muttered, dryly. "Because, it's not like there's anything at stake here."

"There is one thing," Katie said, softly. "These things are undoubtedly powerful. They are the mutations of mythical beings, ones that we can't take lightly..."

"But..." Xavier muttered, under his breath. "There's always a but."  
"I was going to say that we can't afford to hold back," Katie said, surprising them all. "As much as it pains me to say it, as rare as these creatures are in the wild, we have to stop them. If there's no other way, we have to destroy them."

"I'm sure that if there's any other option, you'll take it," Lance remarked, sagely. Even as he finished speaking, the seven rangers brought up their morphers.

"Genesis Overload!"

* * *

Stood at the top of Mount Hielo, Crane finally felt that he was alone. He had a strong affinity with the place, the mountain having originally held the G-Force Zords. In the past, he had been here when the dormant volcano had nearly blown up, and, as he walked through the deserted camp site, he felt it was the ideal place to do this. He had managed to evacuate the area with the help of Dorlinda, and now it was time to do the thing that he was really not looking forward to.

"Okay then," he said, looking up at the sky. "I'm here. Show yourself if you're really up for it."

Behind him, he heard a rustle in the bushes, the sound forcing him to turn and glance at the empty space. Yet, as he did so, the former ranger heard a chuckle from behind him, the direction where he had been facing barely a second earlier, coupled with a cold breeze racing down his spine.

"I'm always ready for it, Crane."

He could see Freeth walking towards him, a smirk upon the beaked face of the foe that had been intent on making his life as annoying as possible.

"The question is, are you?"

"What are you, an alien assassin or a self help guru?"

"I think that you already know that," Freeth replied, glancing around the makeshift fighting arena that Crane had set up, before letting out an approving nod. "I like the choice here. Less chance of anyone interfering like last time."

"I quite agree," the former ranger said, before throwing a grin at his enemy. "Shall we do this?"

With that, Freeth let out a battle cry, leaping ten feet up into the air before coming down to land atop the roof of one of the cabins in the camp site. Not hesitating, Crane reached down to the dirt, scooped up a rock and hurled it at him, the stern blow knocking the Delibird-like alien down to the ground, a grunt of pain emerging from his beak as he picked himself up to glare at his opponent.

"Come on, Freeth!" Crane shouted, taking up a fighting stance. "Let's do this!"

"You're nothing," the alien assassin taunted, mirroring the motions to draw into his own fighting stance. "I'm going to prove that to you, you're going to regret the day that you ever encountered me."

"I was going to say the same to you!" the former ranger replied, before running off towards his enemy. Taken slightly by surprise, Freeth threw out a wing-like fist to try and meet him, only for Crane to duck under it and throw himself into a two footed sliding tackle, tagging Freeth in one of the legs. As Freeth squawked in pain, he flung his beak down to try and impale the grounded Crane who rolled aside. Before the assassin could recover, Crane kicked up into his face and knocked him back with the powerful strike. That giving him the time to spring up to his feet, the former ranger hurled out a two handed punch at Freeth who took the blow before returning the favour. Staggering back slightly, Crane managed to duck under the following blow, before jumping out into a scissor kick, the momentum managing to drag Freeth down to the ground. Squawking in a hybrid of pain and anger, Freeth hurled out a wing and caught Crane in the face, bringing a gasp from the former ranger as he saw stars across his vision. The scent of blood in his nostrils, Freeth struck out again, his powerful punch throwing Crane up into the air. Such was the force of the blow that Crane found himself crashing backwards through the window of one of the cabins nearby, landing in the kitchen in a bruised heap of discomfort.

* * *

"What a lovely day for destruction," Suicurse remarked, hurling a Razor Wind attack from her sword up towards one of the high rise buildings, the sharp blast cutting through the bricks with immediate devastation. "Pacifism was overrated."  
"Quite agreed," Raikiller commented. "If nothing else, this is a chance for revenge."

High above them, atop the roof of one of the buildings looking down on the scene, Eusine was in his element. Seeing the three creatures below doing his bidding was up there with the greatest experiences of his life, these mutated beasts were fulfilling his every fantasy.

That was when he saw them approaching.

* * *

Jumping down onto the scene, the seven morphed rangers all saw the hulking frames of Enterror, Raikiller and Suicurse in the distances, the figures already turning to face their approaching challengers.

"Here they are again," Enterror commented, a smirk on his face. "What are the odds of that?"

"Wherever trouble goes, we're going to be there!" Ryan yelled, glaring at the mutant Entei. "Which is why you better be scared."

"Oh, I'm terrified," Suicurse said, sarcastically. "I really am."

"You know what I'm terrified of?" Duo asked, holding up his hand. "I'm terrified that we're going to be stood here for the rest of the day trading sarcastic insults. Is that really what we want? Is it what we need?"

"He has a point," Nahir remarked, folding her arms. "This isn't the issue."

"We going to fight or not?" Luke asked, glaring at the three Legendary Dogs. "Because..."

They needed no invitation. Rather than wait around, they broke forward in a rampaging rabble, each eager to inflict as much damage as possible onto the rangers.

* * *

Pulling himself up to his feet, Crane began to scan the kitchen he had landed in, an attempt to try and find something that he could use as a weapon. With the sound of the frenzied Freeth outside, his eyes fell on a can of Max Repel, the former ranger quickly realising that it might be something that he could use.

And, as the alien smashed his way through the outside door to the kitchen, he pulled up the lighter, held it up to the nozzle of the can and thumbed the wheel. Not suspecting the danger, Freeth charged...

... Straight into the stream of burning repel, the flames scorching his body. Dropping the two items to the ground, Crane hurled himself through the air and drop kicked the stricken creature back from where he had come.

* * *

Ducking under the bright yellow axe attack from Raikiller, Paige punched him in the stomach, only for the hulking figure to growl in anger and kick out at her. He was distracted by Duo leaping in, the black ranger thrusting out with his Shadow Sabre to deal several deep cuts into the yellow furred body. Cuts that were completely disregarded as he swung out at Duo, the black ranger having to dodge the attack this time. Meanwhile, Katie, Xavier and Luke were battling against Enterror, the former Entei opening his mouth to unleash a stream of flames at them. Shoving her two male colleagues aside, Katie took the blast with ease, the Flash Fire ability within her suit activating. With the power-up taking effect, she brought both Heat Blasters up and unleashed a flurry of flames towards him. It was only slightly more effective than the attack that he had hit her with a moment earlier, but it did allow Luke and Xavier to bring out their weapons and attack from behind. As he was hit with the Psycho Spear and the Tidal Trident, Enterror let out a roar of pain to turn and strike out with his mace. No sooner had he turned his back on her, Katie combined the two weapons into the Flareon Battle Rifle and began to run forward, firing several shots into the back of Enterror's head. Across from them, Nahir and Ryan, both being of types best suited to battle Suicurse, had gone for the final former Legendary Dog. Not waiting for them to press their advantage over her, Suicurse had slashed out at Ryan with her claws, forcing the green ranger to hurl himself back. Taking her chance, Nahir leaped into the fray with her Storm Staff, jabbing out to send several electrical shocks through the giant blue body. Growling in discomfort, Suicurse spun around with her sword to try and take the yellow ranger down, only for Ryan to come back in and smash his Fauna Hammer against her back.

"These things aren't so tough," Ryan yelled, using his hammer to block a sword strike. "Considering..."

* * *

High above the battlefield, Eusine found himself agreeing with the green ranger's diagnosis. Bringing his cane up, he pointed the wooden pole at the field below, before sending a stream of Genesis energy from the item, down into the three warriors.

As soon as it had hit them, the three former Legendary Dogs began to glow with light, before starting the process of growing to a giant size, continuing to grow until they easily towered over the rangers, matching the size of the buildings around them.

"Time for the next level," he said, a grin on his face.

"Aww, man," Duo muttered, before shaking his head. "I don't know why this surprises me any more. Normally, they wait until we destroy them, but..."

"Zord time?" Nahir asked. "Because, I don't think two are going to be enough."

"No time like the present to use something we've never tried before," Luke commented, sarcastically.

"Let's do this!" Katie shouted, as the six original rangers began to step forward. "Double Team!"

At the command, each of them doubled themselves, creating twelve versions of the group, two in each colour.

"We need to hit them with everything!" she continued. "Xavier, you, Ryan and Nahir take the Silent Strike. We'll go Overload Megazord."

"I've no argument with that," Xavier replied, as he, Ryan and Nahir stepped away, along with the replicas of Katie, Duo and Luke. "Silent Strike Megazord!"

At the command, they transformed into six balls of coloured energy, energy that quickly raced up to form into the shape of a giant figure. The black and blue balls of energy created by Duo and Xavier moved to form the legs, the red energy formed by Katie was the chest, the green coloured energy that Ryan had become formed the head, while Luke and Nahir's purple and yellow energy became the arms. Solidifying out, the legs became coiled Arboks, the chest became a bright red Arbok's face, the arms became like the upper body of an Arbok, the open jaws becoming hands, while the green energy became a green generic head, with a band covered in six colours across it.

Back on the ground, the remaining rangers and replicas began to prepare for their own impending actions.

"Time to transform!" Katie, Luke and Duo all yelled, morphing up into their Eevee appearances, along with the replicas of the other rangers. "Overload Zords! Megazord formation!"

Under the command, the six Zords turned into their robot forms and began to combine. The Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords laying down to the ground, their legs and tails retracting inside the bodies. Their heads went down to the ground, the rear part of their bodies raising up to form legs. Next, the Leafeon Zord came bounding down, its front and rear legs fusing together before joining with the top of the Vaporeon and Umbreon Zords. Next the Flareon Zord leaped down onto the top of the Leafeon Zord, its limbs and tail folding in, a humanoid head appearing out of the area where the tail had been. The Flareon head detached, forming a helmet around the top of the head. Finally, the Espeon and Jolteon Zords jumped up, attaching to the shoulders of the Megazord. Their bodies elongating out into a prone position, the heads formed the shoulders of the robot. The rear legs and the tail of the Espeon Zord formed the hand of the right arm, while the needle-like fur at the rear of the Jolteon Zord formed the hand of the left arm. The legs vanishing away into the robotic body. Standing up, it took up a fighting stance.

Finally, Paige issued her own orders, ready to get in on the fight.

"Double Team!"

Like the others before her, she began to glow with a bright light, this one white, before transforming into three separate versions.

"North Wind Megazord!"

At the command, the three figures grew, before transforming, the replicants into a Froslass and a Dewgong, while the original white ranger transformed into a Glaceon. Next, the three giant Pokémon shifted into robot forms and began to move into formation. The Froslass rotating upside down, its head shifting up to form feet, before it split in half. The bottom part of the Zord rising up to connect to the bottom of the Glaceon whose front limbs rose out in front of it to form some chest armour. The rear legs joining with the tip of the split Froslass. The Glaceon's head rose up to form the head of the Megazord, while the Dewgong split in half down the middle. The upper body and head going to form the left arm, while the bottom half of the body and the tail moved to the right arm.

"My, my, my," Raikiller commented, with a sarcastic laugh. "This does look like a challenge."

* * *

Ducking down, Crane felt the disturbance in the air above him as Freeth tried to impale him again, the beak striking the empty space. Not hesitating, he threw an uppercut into the throat of the alien assassin, forcing him away to gain some space.

"How long can you go on?" Freeth demanded, holding his position. "You're tiring. After all, you are only human. Even with all your enhancements, all that stuff that they souped you up with, that's your irreplaceable flaw."

"So said the guy who I just burned," Crane shot back. "If we're talking about flaws, you're just full of them. Remember last time? You tried to take me when I least expected it. You engineered an entire hostage situation. I went in, found it was empty. Just animatronics. That was when you tried to get me. I beat you down then, and I will now!"

"There's something that you fail to take into account," Freeth replied, throwing a smug look over at him. "If nothing else, I'm persistent. I will keeping on trying, and no matter how many times you try to stop me, I will always come back."

He knew that Freeth was partly right. If it carried on the way that it did, there would be one outcome and the alien would inevitably win. And as he realised that, Crane brought up his old G-Force morpher, feeling it burst into life under the motion.

"Word of advice," he retorted. "Always is not forever. Go G-Force!"

Hitting the activation button of the device, he saw that old familiar sight, the mystical spirit of the Rapidash erupting from the device before circling back on itself and crashing into him, creating his G-Force suit.

"Ah, interesting," Freeth commented. "Most interesting. But, do you really expect it to make any difference?"

"I think it's going to make all the difference," Crane replied, the horn-like sword appearing in his hand. "Don't you?"

* * *

Down on the ground below the six giant combatants, those people who weren't terrified and running away from the scene of the action, were watching the three Megazords take on the three enemy beings with interest.

Inside the North Wind Megazord, Paige was focused on battling Raikiller. With her Megazord's ice type capabilities, she had been determined to avoid Enterror for the damage that he could wreak, and Suicurse had a natural resistant to her attacks. With that, the thing that had formerly been Raikou was a natural choice to fight.

"Ice Breaker!" the white ranger shouted, hitting the button in front of her. At the action, the Dewgong headed arm shot out like a cannonball, striking Raikiller in the chest and driving him back. With the mutant on the ropes, she directed the Megazord into following up with a powerful kick before going for another special attack.

"Wind Blaster!"

This time, the Dewgong tail began to spin around, the fan-like blades unleashing a huge burst of freezing cold wind towards Raikiller, who took it on the chin before retaliating with a Thunder attack.

* * *

Meanwhile, Enterror was fighting the Silent Strike Megazord, the two fighters trading blows with aplomb.

"This thing sure can deal out a beating, huh?" Ryan commented, sagely. "Nice to know that we can too."

"You said it," Nahir laughed. "We're not going down without a fight."

"I never thought that we would be," Xavier remarked. "I always thought that we would go down fighting. Although, it would sound arrogant to say that I think we won't go down at all."

As if he had heard the blue ranger speak, Enterror brought up his mace and slammed it against the Silent Strike Megazord, the heavy metal end of the weapon crushing and denting some of the armour on the shoulder.

"Might want to save the arrogance for later," Nahir offered. "How about an Acid?"

In response to the yellow ranger's order, the arms of the Megazord came up into an attacking position before shooting out the corrosive liquid across Enterror's body, the mutant roaring in pain at the attack.

"That's proactive," Ryan remarked. "What's next?"

"Tail Strikes!" Xavier shouted, feeling the Megazord respond to his command, the arms extending out like whips to repeatedly strike Enterror in the body.

* * *

Finally, the Overload Megazord was engaged in combat with Suicurse. As the beast that had formerly been Suicune slashed out with the metallic claws at her opponent. In retaliation, the three rangers inside the Megazord quickly moved to counter.

"Anyone else intent on putting her in her place?" Luke asked, grumpily. "Because, this whole bloody thing is starting to annoy me?"

"One way to start," Katie said, hitting a few buttons. "Genesis Blaster!"

Responding to her command, the Megazord brought up the weapon from the compartment in the Vaporeon leg, quickly bringing it to aim at Suicurse.

"I think Charge Beam," Duo offered. "Water conducts electricity."

"I'm way ahead of you, hon," she said, before mentally checking herself for the term of endearment that she had shown to him. At least, he had appeared not to notice. "Charge Beam!"

Straight away, the crackling beam of electricity shot out of the weapon, hitting Suicurse in the stomach, the attack strong enough to bring a screech of pain from her.

"Following up with a Psycho Punch!" Luke announced, almost shouting with the excitement. In response to his order, the Overload Megazord shot forward like a rocket, the psychic type energy backed punch slamming into Suicurse's stomach.

* * *

As more attacks landed, the three mutated Legendary Dogs found themselves forced back into a group, still facing the Megazords. Other than the momentary discomfort they had suffered in battle, none of them had seemed remotely hurt by the ordeals.

"This could be a problem," Nahir said. "It appears that they're healing. Fast. If we damage them, they'll just recover from the attacks. And we don't have anywhere near enough power to take the three of them out all at the same time. Even the Ultrazord would be useless."

"We need to find another option," Duo offered. "There has to be some way of beating them. It's in the Poké Rangers Handbook. Everything has a weakness, you just have to find it."

"That one sweet spot which makes all the difference," Paige commented. "Come on, we have to think of something."

"I'm hearing enthusiasm, but not much application," Luke said, sarcastically. "Why don't we just start blasting and see where it gets us."

"That's about what I'd expect from you," Xavier remarked. "Come on, normal weak points. Head, heart, eyes..."

"Limbs," Ryan interrupted. "You make it so it can't move..."

"Yeah, I've got a better idea," Katie interrupted. "One that might just work. What do we know about these things? Who created them?"

"Eu..." Luke started to say, before spotting the Coppinger atop one of the buildings, watching the battle. "Oh."

"If you're thinking what I'm thinking, then it's one heck of a gamble," Nahir said, the Silent Strike Megazord also focused on Eusine.

"Anyone got any better ideas?" Katie asked, already out of her seat to head for the emergency exit. "If you have, speak up now."

When nobody did, she pushed the door open and was gone, leaving Luke and Duo alone in the cockpit.

"Dibs!" Duo quickly said, moving into the recently vacated pilot seat, much to Luke's chagrin.

* * *

The fight had definitely evened out. Since morphing, Crane had quickly managed to reconnect with the powers, and was now trading blows with the alien assassin who had been sent after him. He slashed out at Freeth with the Rapidash Horn Sabre, feeling the blade crash against the feathered body. Before Freeth could recover, Crane followed up with a roundhouse kick to take him down to the ground.

"How do you like it now?" the former ranger asked, smirking under his helmet. "You still think you're going to be always haunting me?"

Riled by the comment, Freeth rose up from the ground and hurled more attacks at Crane, attacks that he could barely dodge. Upon taking them, the red ranger sank to the ground, his smirk gone.

"Actually, I do," the alien assassin commented, dryly.

* * *

"Huh?" Eusine asked, as Katie landed across from him on the roof. "This wasn't in the script."

"Screw the script, I'm going for a rewrite," she shot back. "There's a theory out there. I believe that you hold the key to stopping those things."

"And, I bet you think that you can take me down," Eusine retorted. "Is that right?"

"I know I can," she replied, seeing Eusine watching her with an almost twisted interest. "Hunter Glider!"

As the vehicle in question came swooping down, Katie leaped up into the air to secure herself in. Her morpher glowing with a red light, light that transformed into energy that washed over and across her, soon metamorphising into flames. Flames that quickly faded away, as the transformation began. The red energy at her morpher spreading out across her body, she momentarily transformed into a living rendition of a Charizard. Similar to the way that she did when morphing into her Zord form, it only lasted for a second before she returned back to ranger form. Only with some new armour visible, the Charizard's head remaining, her helmet within its mouth with the rest of the face surrounding it. The wings of the Hunter Glider became part of her body, taking on the constitution of Charizard wings. Under her suit, her muscles grew larger, while a cream coloured oval formed on her stomach. Across her chest, a metallic silver band came across, while her gloves and boots hardened and grew claws at the end. The claws on her gloves extended out over her fingers as she landed and took a fighting stance.

"Red Hunter Ranger!"

"This certaintly is a twist," Eusine remarked, pointing his cane at her. "Now, do you think that..."

Instead of finishing his sentence, the thinly veiled distraction fell as he hurled a blast of energy at her. Barely having the time to react, she threw herself into the air, evading the attack.

"Hunter Beam!"

Roaring out the order, she felt the multicoloured beam of energy erupt from the visor on her helmet, watching it rake through the air and strike Eusine in the stomach. As he dropped to one knee, she closed in for another attack, the claws extending out to swipe at the Coppinger.

"Hunter Slash!"

As he felt the metal weapons bite into his upper body, Eusine managed to recover enough to force her back, bringing up his cane to unleash a blast of energy at her. In close proximity, she was unable to dodge, the attack forcing her back towards the edge of the roof. Roaring in glee, Eusine fired another attack towards her, this one forcing her over the edge. Behind them, the Megazords and the three mutants had started fighting again.

Savouring what he thought was his victory, Eusine began to move towards the edge of the roof, hopeful that he was going to see his opponent dead on the ground below...

... Only for her to rise up from the empty air, high above the traffic, the wings of her Battlizer in full flight. Even as he could only let out a roar of dismay, she grabbed her arms around him and began to drag him into the sky. Taking him high up into the air, she began to accelerate, flying around in circles.

"Scary," Eusine muttered, showing no fear at what was about to happen. "I don't have a fear of heights. I really don't."

"You will after this!" she said, pulling into another gear, the wings straining with the effort. Making another fifty turns, all going by in a flash, Katie finally brought the nausea inducing action to a halt, shooting even higher up into the sky, before u-turning back towards the ground.

"How's your fear of being smashed into the ground?" she asked, her voice tailing out as the two of them hurtled down through the empty air. "Orbital Toss!"

* * *

Rising up from where he had fallen, Crane cut loose. Kicking out at Freeth, he felt the feathered body bruise under the attack, forcing his enemy back far enough to bring the Horn Sabre up. Throwing himself back into the fight, he slashed out at the alien, each attack from the blade dealing a huge amount of damage, his tired anger behind every strike.

"You're tiring!" Freeth taunted, taking the attacks. Despite the cuts on his body, he was seemingly unhurt by the blows. "How much more can you..."

Striking out with his weapon in anger, Crane sent the blade into Freeth's face, silencing him. No sooner had the blow landed, did his ranger suit burst into flames.

"Time to turn up the heat!" he shouted. "Rapidash Flare Blitz!"

With the flames rising up, he leaped forward, smashing into Freeth. As the temperature rose, the Delibird-like alien was instantly incinerated, his body turning to fine ash and slipping to the ground.

"Suppose I could have just done that to start with," Crane muttered, dropping into a sitting position. "I really should have."

* * *

Landing in the middle of the street, Katie saw Eusine climbing out of the crater where she had thrown him. He looked bruised and battered, but he was alive. And, even better, he was human again, her attacks had destroyed the mutation in his system. Above them, the three mutants were slowly starting to shrink, returning back to their original form.

"No!" the Coppinger groaned, getting to his feet. "You... You idiot! Do you know what you've done?"  
"Saved the human race for another week?" she retorted. Behind her, she realised that the other rangers were behind her. "Think how much safer you are right now. Since you're human and all."  
Across from them, Raikou, Entei and Suicune were all back to normal, the trio now circling around the crater where Eusine had ended up. Each of them was wearing a particularly murderous look, a sense that they wanted to rip him to pieces all emanating from them.

"Anyone else blame them if they want to?" Luke asked, looking on. "He did probably hurt their pride."

"He might have information that we can use," Nahir said. "Think about it. Besides, even if he doesn't, is that what we do now? Watch while our enemies get mauled by something that they irritated?"

"As much as I hate to say it, I agree with her," Xavier remarked. "But, they look pretty mad. I don't want to get involved with..."

"Fine, I'll do it," Nahir groaned, walking forward, past where Katie stood watching. "Hey... Dogs?"

Her voice was enough to break them out of the menacing circle around Eusine, instead they looked over at the yellow ranger, the hate replaced with interest.

"I know what he did to you," Nahir continued, suddenly realising what she was doing could be very stupid indeed. "But, come on. Is this really the best way to go about it? He does deserve punishment for what he did, but that will come. Come on, you're better than him. If you kill him, he's at peace, he'll never suffer again, he'll be free of it all."

"Say what you like," Paige muttered, glancing over at the other rangers. "She's one heck of a speaker."

"He's a human, a human who committed a crime," Nahir said, gesturing around to everyone who had crowded around, all keeping a safe distance. "Everyone knows what he did."

On cue, Luke stepped forward to stand with her, almost as if it had been rehearsed at some prior point.

"And, there's a certain stigma attached to someone who tries to use Legendary Pokémon for their own purpose," the purple ranger offered. "He's going to have a very unpleasant life from now on."

"They all are," Ryan added, joining the two of them. "We're going to stop the Coppingers. That what we've been trying to do."

"And we're getting closer," Paige said, coming into the scene. "Ever closer."

"There's no escape for him," Xavier continued. "The police are probably on their way as we speak."

"So, rather than take your own justice, an eye for an eye," Duo said, coming over. "Let the human world ensure that he is punished for the crimes that he has done."

Finally, Katie joined them, in the final plea.

"Don't kill him," she finished. "He's not worth it."

Looking over at the rangers, appearing for all the world that they had taken it in, the three Legendary Dogs glanced at each other before moving on over to touch each others noses. In that instant, a crackle of white light rang out, forming something in the middle of the shape between the empty space. As the light faded, the sound of something clattering to the ground rang out, before the three Legendary Dogs turned to flee, vanishing down the street and over the horizon.

"Not even a goodbye," Duo quipped. "Seriously?"

Ignoring him, the other rangers were already moving over to see what had been dropped, an item that they quickly realised was a small stone in three different colours, yellow, red and blue.

"You think that's an artefact?" Xavier asked, looking down at it with interest. Rather than musing about it, Nahir reached over to pick it up, smiling under her helmet.

"Anyone want to christen it?" she wondered. "Since it apparently has no name."

"Stone of Three Elements?" Ryan suggested. "Or does that sound stupid?"

"A little," Paige commented. "But, if nothing else, it'll do in the interim."

"How about the Three Stone?" Luke offered. "That sorta sounds..."

"That's worse," Duo said, shaking his head. "It really is."

* * *

While the rest of them were examining their prize, Katie had gone over to check on Eusine, the Coppinger still laid where he had been thrown.

"You just had a lucky escape," she remarked. "Really really lucky."

"Thanks," Eusine whispered, the sounds of police sirens already coming in the distance. With surprising sudden vigour, he sprang up and grabbed Katie by the shoulders before whispering into her ear. "Really, thanks!"

Before she could shove him away, he held on tight, continuing to whisper into the side of her helmet. Underneath the mask, her eyes widened at what he was revealing to her.

* * *

"Guess it went well, huh?" Dorlinda remarked, as Crane walked into the Time Hole, fiddling with the G-Force morpher on his wrist. "You're still standing. Freeth isn't."

"He wasn't anything special," Crane answered. "Although, he did confirm to me that Ortari sent him after me. Guess she must really hate me."

"Well, you did hurt her pride," Dorlinda said. "She always was a vain creature. When you hit her... I'd be willing to bet she hated you for the minor disfiguration you gave to her."

"I'm just surprised that she didn't try anything really murderous," Crane replied. "If you can go to any point in history, bring back anything with you to try and do the job... I'm surprised that it was just Freeth."

"Maybe she'll try again," the Lord of Time mused. "Something for you to watch out for."

Not hesitating, Crane pulled the morpher off his wrist and held it out to his friend.

"Here," he said, watching Dorlinda refuse to take it. "This belongs to you. You might as well take it back."

"Technically, it's mine," he replied. "Actually, it's yours. Only you can use it... Well, you and your ancestors. I think that you should keep hold of it for the moment. You're going to need it again at some point in the immediate future. That's what I think, you would do well to take my advice."

"You seen the future?"

"Nope, but I still think that it would be a good idea," Dorlinda said. "Now, I think you should return to the Silver Gyarados. Your friends have been busy, as we speak, Eusine is in a human jail. There's some discussion to be had there, I'll teleport you down there."

* * *

"Well, it was a bonus really," Lance commented, watching Nahir put the Thunder Drop into the safe, where it lay alongside the rest of the artefacts, before the door was shut. "You took down Eusine, saved the Legendary Dogs and gained another artefact. We weren't expecting what else we got."

"The question is," Katie said, drawing the attention of the rest of the room. "Now we have that information, what are we going to do with it."

She paused for a moment, looking across everyone in the room, before finishing with her own mirror reflection.

"Earlier," she said, looking back to Luke. "You asked what our plan was? Correct."

"Well..." the purple ranger started to reply, before being interrupted.

"You want a plan?" Katie asked, banging a fist against the table. "I've got a plan..."

"We're all listening," Luke said, straightening up subconsciously to further the notion that he was doing as he had said. "Go on."

"Because of what Eusine gave to us, we know the locations of the four sub-sects of Coppingers," the red ranger said. "You want radical? We split up, we take them all down together. Then, we go looking for Dennis."

She paused for a moment, letting it sink in what she was saying.

"I'm talking about smashing the Coppingers to pieces."

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**It's going to get messy. Very messy.**

**It's nearly at the end. Only five chapters left after this.**

**At least, this chapter ended well. The Dogs were saved, Crane solved his problem and the rangers have a plan of attack.**

**Think about it really. Jail is the obvious option for the Coppingers when they lose the mutation. I know it's not really in the Poké Rangers tradition, but neither is brutally killing defenceless humans. Tough choice.**

**Thanks for the reviews. They are all appreciated.**

**Oh, and another artefact down.**

**Next one... Well, the title and preview are below. Should be up at some point. I might stop uploading over the Christmas. Or, I might not. Not sure yet.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Eusine is answering reviews for this episode.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Forty Seven, Duo vs Jake: End Of A Rivalry, preview.**

**Ryan: What?**

**Katie: We split up and take them down.**

**Lance: All of you, take one day off and go tonight.**

**Duo: I want a crack at Jake.**

**Jake: So, it's come down to this!**

**Duo: What makes a perfect day for you?**

**Katie: That depends.**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	47. Duo Vs Jake: End Of A Rivalry

Chapter Forty Seven. Duo Vs Jake: End Of A Rivalry.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_Eusine showed up in Verger at the same time as the three Legendary Dogs. Upon arrival, he was revealed to be a Coppinger, before being mutated by Dennis. Upon being mutated, he went for the three Legendary Dogs, mutating them into Raikiller, Enterror and Suicurse before vanishing along with them. Also, Crane was confronted by Freeth. In the aftermath, Freeth was given an order by Ortari, while Dennis, Arbok and Eusine realised that in their current form, the trio couldn't guide them to an artefact, so instead they sent them to attack. Meanwhile, Crane got his G-Force morpher back from Dorlinda and used it to destroy Freeth. In the aftermath, Katie managed to destroy Eusine's mutation, returning the Legendary Dogs to normal. They had to convince them not to maul Eusine, but the Dogs gave them an artefact before fleeing. Finally, Katie revealed her plan to defeat the Coppingers..._

_

* * *

_

"You want a plan?" Katie asked, banging a fist against the table. "I've got a plan..."

"We're all listening," Luke said, straightening up subconsciously to further the notion that he was doing as he had said. "Go on."

"Because of what Eusine gave to us, we know the locations of the four sub-sects of Coppingers," the red ranger said. "You want radical? We split up, we take them all down together. Then, we go looking for Dennis."

She paused for a moment, letting it sink in what she was saying.

"I'm talking about smashing the Coppingers to pieces."

"What?" Ryan asked, voicing the word that the rest of the rangers had all been wanting to say in that split second. "Are you joking?"

"Not in the slightest," she replied. "We split up and take them down."

"Are you out of your mind?" Paige asked. "What happened to us being stronger as a team?"

"We are," Katie said. "Now, I hope that I'm not going to be proved wrong with this, but Dennis is the real bad guy in all of this. The Coppingers below him are just ordinary grunts. The sort that we have fought every single time..."

"What about the Dark Spectres?" Luke asked. "They weren't Coppinger grunts."

"After those, they should be a piece of cake," Katie answered, grinning. "Come on, I think that we can do this. Who's with me?"

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. Crane appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefacts. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Dark Spectres hover above Coppinger mutant monsters._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord, North Wind Megazord and Silent Strike Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

"Are we all in?" the red ranger continued, looking across the room. "I want us all to be in before we carry on. If even one of us is against it, we don't do it, we go for something else. We're a team, a team that sticks together. We put this plan into action as one, or none. Who's in? Xavier?"

"I'm in," the blue ranger replied, shrugging. "If nothing else, it should be interesting. I think it could work."

"Duo?" she continued, looking over to him to see what his opinion was. "What do you think?"

"I'm thinking we should do something less suicidal," he replied, grinning. "Like Ursaring baiting, or swimming with Sharpedo. Hell, why don't we even learn to speak Tyranitar and go tell the biggest meanest one we can find all the rude words we know..."

"I'm sorry, are you in or out?"

"I'm in, of course," he replied, sounding bemused. "What part of that didn't you get?"

"Glad to have you on board," Katie said, smiling at him, before moving on. "Paige?"

"I think that it's probably not the best idea out there, but it could work. But, I also don't think that we have any better option. With that, I'm in."

"Ryan?"

"We've come too far to not do this," the green ranger replied. "This might be quick and effective, although it might be painful. Yet, I think it's worth it. I'm in."

"Nahir?" Katie asked, glancing over to the yellow ranger. "What's your opinion?"

"I don't know the full details of the plan, that's really the sticking point. If you can come up with a good solid way of doing this that is effective, then I'll be behind you all the way."

"Luke?" the red ranger asked, glancing over to her final colleague. "What do you think here?"

"The words suicidally and reckless spring to mind," the purple ranger answered, dryly. "We really could all die here, doing this. For a start, how many of the high ranking Coppingers are likely to be really easy to beat in combat? We've struggled through against some of their creations, we've got to this point by relying on each other and also by blind luck. That said, I think that it's likely our only chance. If we hit them one at a time, they'll fade into the woodwork and we won't get another shot at them."

He paused for a moment, letting out a sigh of resignation before speaking up again.

"With that in mind, count me in."

* * *

"Okay, so..." Bill said, looking at the screen in front of him. A map of Verger was upon the monitor, four golden dots there to reveal the locations. "These are the locations that we got from Eusine. Four of them."

"So, that's two each," Xavier remarked, nodding in agreement. "Makes sense. We each hit a location at the same time."

"Errr... Xavier," Luke started to say, before being cut off by the blue ranger.

"After our battle with Eusine, we know that you can destroy the mutant part of the Coppinger," Xavier mused. "So, individually, if we can wreak enough damage on them, we can send them back to what they were."

"Xavier!" Luke shouted, silencing him. "You're missing one key detail. There's only seven of us."

"Oh," the blue ranger replied, softly. "Well, I thought that Crane would take part."

"You did, huh?" Crane asked, a grin on his face. "That's a pretty big assumption."

"Are you in, or out?" Katie asked.

"Like I'm going to miss this," he said, folding his arms. "This is going to be one heck of a battle. Besides, you guys are my friends..."

"Peh," Luke quietly choked, clearly not impressed with the admission.

"... And I'm not going to let you do this alone, not while I sit back and enjoy the explosions."

"You think there's going to be explosions?" Paige asked, surprised.

"If it gets done right, there should be," Duo commented, dryly. "Welcome on to the team."

"Sorry I never asked you, Crane," Katie admitted, slightly sheepishly. "Never occurred to me... I guess I got the numbers wrong. Drastically wrong."

"No hard feelings," he said. "Probably slipped your mind. Good thing I got my morpher back from Dorlinda."

"Something that you might need," Xavier remarked, before letting out a grin. "Hey, remember that time we all teamed up? G-Force and SDI together to take on Dark Dorlgia and those resurrected demons? Seems like forever, doesn't it?"

For a moment, everyone paused, before turning to leave as one, the green ranger in the lead.

"Okay then," Ryan said, moving towards the exit. "Let's go and get them!"

"Wait!"

* * *

The shout came from Lance, the Dragon Master moving in front of the door to block them leaving, a resigned look on his face.

"What?" Nahir asked. "We've got an unpleasant task to go at."

"I know," he replied. "But, this sounds like a tough mission. You guys have been working really hard lately, it's not an easy life."

"What are you saying?" Duo wondered, looking at him.

"All of you," Lance continued. "Take one day off and go tonight. They aren't likely to go anywhere, they don't know that he's told you where they are."

"It's actually a smart plan," Bill commented. "Relax, refresh, fillet your sole and mind before you go out at the top of your game. If you're fresh, you're more likely to succeed than if you run in half cocked. Plus, it's not more than a few hours since you fought those three cuddly bags of fun that Eusine hurled at you."

"Hey, I had to fight off an alien from the future," Crane replied, dryly. "I could do with a bit of recovery as well, actually."

"An alien from the future?" Luke wondered, glancing over at him. "You sure you want to tell us that? Sure it won't compromise your vow of secrecy?"

"Luke, calm it," Katie warned. "As opposed to an alien from now?"

"Freeth wasn't a Syodian," Crane answered. "Right now, he's toast."  
"Is that an alien race?" Duo quipped, not getting a smile as he made the joke. "Oh, come on!"

* * *

"Okay, so let's work this out," Bill said. "How are you guys going to work the teams? Or even who moves out to take on who."

"I want a crack at Jake," Duo instantly piped up. "I've got some unfinished business with him."

"You know that this is going to go well," Katie muttered, rolling her eyes. "I think I'm going to go with him, ensure that he doesn't do something stupid."

"Perish the day that might happen," Nahir commented. "Duo doing something moronic. Although, I agree with him. I have some scores to settle with Meredith. After she and that other guy tried to turn me into a Muk."

"Luke, I take it that you'll want to go with her," Xavier said, glancing over at the purple ranger. "Right?"

"Sounds like a plan," Luke commented. "We go get the effeminate weirdo and Meredith. What about the rest of you guys?"

"Mitchell and Noland vs Fuller and Copper," Paige said, rolling her eyes. "I'll go with Crane. Maybe we'll swing over to take on the latter."

"Guess it's you and me then," Ryan said, grinning at Xavier. "Wonder if we'll have to fight any robots on the way in?"

"Almost undoubtedly," Luke commented. "They do have that habit of throwing them at you."

"You managed to track them down before, right?" Xavier asked, looking at Luke. "Any tips?"

"Yeah, hit them more times than they hit you, and harder," the purple ranger said. "Helpful?"

"It's sort of on the helpful side?" Xavier said. "Closer to the not very, rather than the absolutely."

"What's the plan?" Crane asked, glancing around the room. "We meet back here before the attack, or just go from where we were before?"

"That sounds better," Katie remarked. "We meet back here when we're done..."

"Errr... Katie," Bill interrupted. "Hate to break it to you, but something just struck me. The Eclipse Stone. Jake and Hawk have half of it. Presumably, provided they haven't given it to Dennis by now. When you've got them, might as well see if you can track it down."

"We'll keep that in mind," Duo replied. "So... Break?"

"Break sounds good," Nahir muttered, the group already heading back towards the exit. "Let's get out of here."

Watching them file out of the room, Bill and Lance looked at each other, before shrugging in bemusement.

"Think I'm going to catch up on some sleep," the PokéManiac commented. "You want to keep watch up here?"

"Not really, but I will do," Lance answered. "Sweet dreams."

* * *

Walking into the Eon City Pokémon Gym, Duo was pleasantly surprised to see her there, talking to Ethan. Before joining back up with the new group of rangers, he had served under the gym leader of the city as an apprentice for six months, meaning that he had gotten pretty friendly with Ethan. It wouldn't have been much of a stretch to say that, other than the people he had met through ranger related work, the gym leader was the only one who he had struck up a real friendship with.

He really hadn't expected to see Katie in there, doing the same thing. Of course, since she had lived in Eon City, there was a chance that she would have stuck up a friendship with Ethan.

"Ah," the gym leader commented, turning over to the black ranger. "Welcome back, Duo. Long time no see, it has been a while."

Grinning at him, Duo reached over to shake his hand, wondering whether or not he was going to get acknowledged by Katie.

She didn't.

"Hey, I remember you," she said, winking at him. "You're that guy... The one who helped me out after the charity event when I was attacked."

"Oh yeah, I remember," Duo replied. "That went down well."

"So, you two have met before?" Ethan asked, a small grin on his face. "Most interesting."

"How's the gym going?" Duo wondered. "Anything interesting taking place?"

"Nah, there's not many tough trainers out there right now," Ethan replied. "Seems like they come in dribs and drabs. Either there's a bunch of them out there at the same time, or there's none."  
"Tough break," Katie offered, sympathetically. "I'm back in town, Duo, came to see my parents. Thought I'd come in and see Ethan as well."

"Nice of you," Duo said. "Same reason I came here. See an old friend."

"Hmmm..." Ethan mused, looking first at Katie, then at Duo. "Don't suppose that the two of you fancy a battle, while you're here?"

"With each other?" Duo asked, suddenly looking terrified. "Because..."

"The two of you against me," the gym leader clarified. "My mistake, I probably should have made that clearer."

"Think you can keep up with me?" Katie grinned, throwing another wink at the black ranger. He got the impression that she was enjoying the charade far too much.

"I've often wondered about that, actually," he answered, reaching down for a Poké Ball. "Okay, let's get it on, Sparky."

* * *

The battle had been tougher than he had expected. Unlike many other gyms across the land, the Eon City Gym displayed quite an unusual philosophy. Ethan would take challengers on in a three on three contest, using only Eevee evolutions in type based match ups. This one had just been a standard double battle though, with Ethan using his Espeon and Jolteon against Katie's Swampert and Duo's Dusclops. Even with type advantages, the two of them had struggled through, until a combination move had come off, Dusclops firing a Shadow Ball through a Surf attack to knock out Espeon. With the Jolteon on its own, the two had managed to double team it, a combination of Mud Shot and Shadow Punch enough to finish off the electric type evolution of Eevee.

As he held up a Poké Ball to recall the fallen Jolteon, Ethan couldn't help but crack a weak smile at what had happened, a little surprised by the events.

"That's impressive," he remarked. "If I didn't know better, I'd have sworn that you two had battled together more than just this once. There's some spooky strange chemistry going on between you... You sure that this is only the second time you've met?"

"Now, what possible reason would we have to lie about that?" Katie asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "You're reading too much into it."

"Maybe I am," Ethan admitted. "Either way, it's none of my business. Only you two know for sure, but there's something between you. You can't see it, it's almost invisible, but it's there. You can feel it."

"Interesting," Duo remarked. "You offering an opinion on us?"

"Not at all, old friend," Ethan replied, a smirk on his face. "So, where do you go from here?"

"Thinking of checking in at home," Katie answered. "Maybe getting some dinner and..."

Pausing for a moment, she glanced over at Duo.

"Fancy something to eat?"

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to invite strangers to your home?" he asked, grinning at her.

"You can ask her that yourself."

* * *

"Mmmm..." the black ranger mused, leaning against the railings overlooking the small pond behind Katie's family home, the red ranger next to him. "That's good cooking... And also, a surprisingly nice house."

"When I won my third champion challenge," she replied. "Picked up a cool half a million dollar purse..."

"Half a million dollars for defending the league champion position twice?" Duo asked. "Really?"

"You know how hard it is to do that?"

"I can guess," he replied.

"That's why," Katie said. "Get to take on the best of the best, all of who really want a piece of you. I gave the money to my parents, they got a better house."

"That was generous," Duo remarked, looking down at the Goldeen in the pond below him. "Really generous."

"It wasn't something that I needed at the time. I gave it to them on the condition that I was always welcome there."

"Take it that you didn't tell them that you were a Poké Ranger. Since it never came up at the dinner table."

"They knew about the time in SDI... Never brought it up about the second time," Katie admitted. "That's not something that should ever come into the light of day, should the Coppingers ever come back into our lives."

Pausing for a moment, she reached over to place her hand on Duo's, the two of them enjoying the moment.

"Do you honestly believe that this is the right thing to do? Attack them all at the same time, split up?"

"Don't bring it up," the black ranger groaned. "Part of me really isn't looking forward to it. About the only solid part of this entire plan is the perfect day scenario."

Pausing for a moment, he gave the impression that there was something that he wanted to say, before eventually coming on out with it.

"What makes a perfect day for you?" he asked, looking at her with interest.

"That depends," she replied, winking at him for what seemed like the twentieth time that day. "That depends."

"On what?" Duo wondered, his eyebrow raised with interest. "I'm interested now."

"Well, I always thought that it'd be drinks with a few close friends," she said. "Then an afternoon of Pokémon battling, followed by an evening with some cute guy who I really like. And someone who likes me back."

"Any such guy in your life?" he asked, smiling at her.

"Again, that depends," Katie replied, softly. "On how you feel?"

"About what?"

"About me," she said, keeping her eyes on his, seeing the lights flicker on within them as he caught her meaning.

* * *

"They'll just be about ready to hit the locations now," Bill remarked, looking at the four gold dots on the giant map in front of him. "I'm trying to get some footage up as we speak. Ryan and Xavier are going after Noland in Waterfall Shores, Luke and Nahir are in Red Moon City to collar Harley and Meredith..."

"Paige and Crane are here," Lance continued, gesturing at one of the other dots. "Frodomar City for Fuller and Copper..."

"Which leaves Lassana City for Katie and Duo," Bill finished. "With Jake and Hawk..."

"Who do you reckon is going to finish first?" Lance wondered. "Who'll be the first to report in with the Coppingers behind bars?"

* * *

"Here we go," Duo remarked, leaning against the outside wall. "Mansion. Typical bad guy hideout. Like there aren't enough of those lurking about these days."

"Not every villain that walks the earth hangs out in one of these places," Katie muttered. "Like the way that you assume they do."

"Just trying to break the tension," Duo replied. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nerves," she answered, quickly.

"I didn't know you got nervous," the black ranger quipped. "Learn something new every day. Or two things..."

"What?"

"Ready to jump into the pool head first?" he asked, softly.

"Well, I am an excellent swimmer."

"I know, I've seen you in a bikini."

Grinning over at him, enjoying the banter for the moment, the red ranger quickly brought back the business of what they were about to do, checking her morpher.

"Shall we dance?" she wondered. "See what these guys are made of?"

"You'd rather tango with a murderous lunatic than your truly?" Duo asked, already climbing over the wall. "Maybe later, I'll enjoy it more."

"You and me both," she said, looking up at the mansion. "I know you want Jake, but if I get to him before you... I'm not holding back."

"I know," he replied. "I'm not THAT bothered about stopping Jake. Guess I just wanted to be here, alone with you."

"Aren't I the privileged one," Katie commented, dryly. "When we hit the door... I'll go left. You go right?"

"Can't we go at the same time?"

Rolling her eyes, she reached over to grab him by the collar, pulling him over to give him a small kiss on the lips. As he returned the gesture, the two of them found themselves crouched there, caught in the moment before breaking away. Realising that their friendship was effectively ruined, Katie leaped over the wall and started the run up the drive, Duo right behind her.

* * *

Hitting the door shoulder first, she felt it give slightly under the charge before stepping back. Even as she got out of the way, Duo was there, kicking the weakened door open for the two of them to charge into an empty hall way.

"You think they know we're here?" the black ranger asked, already bringing up his morpher. "If they don't now, they soon will."

"Don't you dare get killed," Katie said, letting out a nervous grin. "That's an order."

"Love it when you get all stern," he muttered, as the two of them brought up their morphers. Already, a swarm of Dogbots were starting to move down the hall way towards them, all looking ready to murder.

"Welcoming party approaching," Katie commented, suddenly finding herself relishing the chance of the fight ahead. "Let's get this on! Genesis Overload!"

The two of them morphing into their ranger suits, they were instantly thrown into the fight. Reacting faster than those attacking her, Katie kicked out to knock two of them back away from her. As they crashed back into more of their attacking cohorts, Duo ran past her, grabbing one of the ones remaining standing by the head and twisting it into a wall before kicking the thing several times in the side.

More were coming. Mixed in with the stream of Dogbots were some Doombots, the Houndoom headed soldiers breathing fire up towards the ceiling to signal their arrival. Realising the severity of what was going on, Katie whipped out both of her Heat Blasters, while Duo brought out the Shadow Sabre, the two of them getting ready to tackle the oncoming army.

Finding himself flanked by a pair of Dogbots with a Doombot up ahead of him, Duo swept out with his sword, cutting the two Dogbots down before going for the much more dangerous threat of the Doombot. Swinging out his Shadow Sabre, he cut through the attempted block from the robot, severing part of its arm. With the thing stood there surprised, he spun and decapitated it, before getting tackled by another charging Dogbot. As he hit the ground, he heard a flurry of shots, Katie's Heat Blasters taking out at least five of them to give him some free space. In a flash, she brought the two weapons together into the Flareon Battle Rifle, before spinning to take down a Doombot that was trying to get her from behind.

"How many of these things are there?" she asked, kicking another Dogbot to the ground, before bringing up her weapon to blast another in the face. Even as Duo was getting to his feet, using the Shadow Sabre as a crutch, he had to react quickly to slice up another Doombot, the black robot closing in on him.

"Who knows," he replied, transferring the sword to his other hand before throwing out a right hook towards the closest Dogbot, sending it down to the floor. "All I know is we don't have time for this..."

"Duo..." Katie said, letting his name hang in the air. "Go! I'll try and thin out the ranks here, you go through to try and find Jake."

"You're going to thin out the ranks?" he asked, looking over at the still continuous stream of Dogbots making a push for them down the hall. "How, may I ask?"

Rather than replying, she pulled the trigger of the Flareon Battle Rifle, sending a huge ball of mystical fire, fire that formed into the shape of a Flareon down the hall way, the blast enough to knock the robotic soldiers off their feet.

"I'm sure there's some way," she replied, grinning under her helmet. "I'll try to join you as fast as possible."

"Don't keep me waiting," he retorted, already making a run down the temporarily empty hall way. "Hey, Katie."

"Yeah," she replied, turning from blowing another Dogbot's head off with her weapon. "What's up?"

He couldn't say it to her, not right now. The two of them had been going around in circles for months, maybe even over a years worth of months, the endless flirting hiding something deeper. They had both felt it, yet neither had acted on it beyond that flirting. Now that they were on the same level, now that they each knew the truth... He didn't want to say it if the worst happened.

"Bye," he said, rather lamely. In the interim, another Doombot had popped out from somewhere, only to quickly be dismantled by his Shadow Sabre.

* * *

Watching him go, vanishing away up the stairs, Katie couldn't help but whisper the same word under her breath, before turning back to the gathering robots in front of her, all looking like they were going to treasure the chance of going one on one with her.

"Right," she said, dropping both Heat Blasters back into their holsters. "You want to play rough? Hunter Glider!"

* * *

Seemingly now far ahead of her, Duo saw a door up in front of him, a Do Not Disturb notice crudely painted upon it in dark red...

He thought it was paint, the thought still in his head as he kicked the door open to charge in, his Shadow Sabre in hand.

That was when something hit him from behind, forcing him to his knees, only the blade of his weapon stopping the black ranger from falling flat on his face. Turning, he saw Hawk rushing towards him, the Staraptor-like Coppinger throwing a Brave Bird attack at him. Barely reacting fast enough, he brought the Shadow Sabre up to try and block, only for the powerful attack to break through his attempt at defending himself, the force of the strike knocking him back. As he landed on the carpet, he whipped his Genesis Blaster out and fired several times at Hawk, the bursts of black energy hitting the Coppinger in the stomach. Before he could jump back up and go on the assault he wanted so much, a hand shot out and Jake appeared, slamming him into the wall. As the black ranger let out a weak groan, he heard his Shadow Sabre clatter to the ground. Barely caring about the weapon, Jake instead spun and hurled Duo at the ceiling, the black ranger bouncing off the white plaster before falling over the couch in front of Hawk.

"Hey, I like this," Hawk commented. "Beat up the ranger. It's quite fun."

In response, Duo managed to spring up from the prone position, slamming both feet into Hawks' face. The sudden show of power within his attack was easily enough to throw the Coppinger up towards the upper parts of the wall, Hawk mirroring Duo's action from moments earlier.

"Not as fun as smack the Coppinger into the wall," the black ranger quipped, before shooting a glance at Jake. "Although, I guess I might need to try it again. Come on, make my day!"

"So, it's come down to this!" Jake roared, leaping across at Duo with a sudden display of anger. Rather than trying to dodge, Duo spun to throw a roundhouse at his opponent, even as Jake burst into flames, ready to unleash a Sky Attack into the black ranger.

* * *

Back in the hall, Katie was having a much easier time of it, the Dogbots having somehow rebelled against their programming and realised that attacking her head on was a stupid idea. Instead, she was now being circled by four Doombots, the huge machines all watching with wary caution.

"Wow, I've really never been this popular," she commented, eyeing them all up, wondering which would move to attack first, before reaching the decision that she didn't want to wait. "So, which of you wants to get dismantled first?"

The one to her right came in to attack first, followed quickly by the rest of them in the attempt at one huge dog pile, a mass of metallic limbs and teeth all trying to get her.

"Hunter Slash!" she shouted, taking a step back, before raking her claws through the chest of one of the Doombots, the tips managing to shred the control circuits of the thing. Jumping up, she flung out another claw attack at the head of the wounded one, managing to throw it back towards another. Landing on the ground again, she threw a kick at the next nearest, crushing the metal under her blow. As the thing creaked in pain and disrepair, she flung her claws out at it, wreaking even more damage upon the stricken robot.

That was when they all came in on her, forcing her up into the air above them. Surpised by what she had done, they instantly moved to try and claw at the air below her. Even flat against the high ceiling of the hall, it was still a tight fit.

* * *

The attack had been brutal. The sudden Sky Attack from Jake had taken Duo completely by surprise, hurling him across the room where he had landed next to the fallen Hawk.

"Where's your backup?" Jake demanded, striding towards him. Even as he moved through the room, Duo could see the anger on his face, anger enough to make him scoop up the TV and toss it towards the window. The sound of the heavy item smashing through the glass rang through the medium sized room was almost deafening, the sound almost amplified as it hit the ground below. "No way you barged in here alone."

Instead of responding, Duo grabbed up his Genesis Blaster and began to fire again, the blasts barely fazing Jake as they crashed into his body. As the Coppinger took them, Duo took the opportunity to roll away and towards his dropped Shadow Sabre.

"That the best you can do?" Jake asked, scanning the black ranger's movements with his beady eyes, watching where he was moving. "Because, it's pathetic!"

Even as Duo leaped up out of cover to try and impale Jake with his weapon, the Coppinger grabbed the blade in his hand, forcing it back away from him, before punching Duo in the stomach. Stumbling back, the black ranger felt Jake attack again, kicking him to the ground.

Behind them, Hawk was starting to stir, moving in restless slumber as Jake and Duo continued to struggle. Swiping out with his sword, Duo saw Jake duck under the attack, before he kicked the Coppinger in the face. Taking the blow, Jake retaliated by hurling out a hand and grabbing Duo by the throat, before tossing him up into the air.

"Or maybe you did barge in here alone," the Coppinger remarked, sarcastically. "Maybe you have a death wish, which is handy for me, because you're going to die!"

Advancing on Duo, the black ranger could see the frenzied look of evil upon his opponents face, the expression replaced by surprise as something crashed through the floor in the middle of the room between them.

That was when a shattered Doombot hit Jake in the midriff, knocking him back as Katie landed on the ruined carpet.

"Miss me?" she asked, reaching over to offer Duo a helping hand to his feet. "Right?"

"You took your sweet time," he grumbled, watching Jake push the Doombot off his body, the Coppinger already getting to his feet. "What kept you?"

"Thought I'd be fashionably late," she retorted, spotting Hawk moving towards Duo from behind him. "Ready to finish this off?"

"Oh yeah," he replied, gripping his Shadow Sabre and glaring at Jake behind Katie. "Let's do this?"

"Two now?" Jake asked, unaware of what they had planned. "What's your plan?"

Nodding at each other, the two rangers moved. As Duo started to run towards Jake, Katie flew up from where she had been stood, allowing him to slide underneath her, all while her visor began to glow with energy. At the same time, Duo's Shadow Sabre began to glower with a bright black light.

"Hunter Beam!" the red ranger shouted. "Full power!"

"Night Slash!"

Responding to the commands, the attacks came streaming out. As Katie had ordered, a huge beam of multicoloured energy erupted from the visor in her helmet, smashing Hawk square in the chest and hurling him back against the wall amid his screams. Behind her, Duo had sent his powered up sword into Jake's body, unleashing the dark type energy into the Coppinger. Still worried that it wasn't enough, he brought the Shadow Sabre up away from Jake, before crashing it down again. This time, Jake let out a howl of savage fury at the pain, before being silenced by the third attack. The fourth one was enough to send him crashing to his knees, before Duo spun on the spot and kicked him up into the air.

At the same time, the damage was too much for them to bear and their mutated forms exploded, leaving the unconscious human versions of the two enemies on the ground, only the rangers still standing.

Eventually, it was Katie who broke the silence.

"Think we won," she commented, dryly. "Now... Eclipse Stone."

* * *

It was Duo who found it first, plucking the broken half of the Eclipse Stone out of the small bathroom cupboard, alongside some aged aftershave and a blunt razor.

"Don't even want to know why they were keeping it here," he commented, holding it up for her to see. "You have... Nah, I guess you won't."

"We need to take care of that right away," Katie said, reaching to bring out the other half of the black stone, the piece that she had brought with her from the safe on the Silver Gyarados. "We need to hunt Chester Biel down at once and get him to fix it."

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**Yeah... That's the first part of the three chapter arc, all of which takes place on the same day.**

**And, those two realise their feelings for each other... Awwww. Might have taken a while, but it's there. It's out in the open.**

**Thanks so much for the reviews, they are all appreciated.**

**The next one is entitled No More Robots, and it will be much the same, involving the days of Crane, Paige, Ryan and Xavier. So, it'll be up after Christmas, the preview below.**

**And there's that stone again. The fixing of it will probably be in chapter forty nine, along with Luke and Nahir's perspective for the day.**

**Quite glad I've got that sideplot point out of the way now, actually.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Hawk will be replying to this chapter. Merry Christmas. Bye.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Forty Eight, No More Robots, preview.**

**Xavier: Come on! One final rematch.**

**Ryan: You know it.**

**Paige: A swimming pool? Really.**

**Crane: You mess with the Fires of Time, you're going to get burned.**

**Xavier: A little something to equalise if we need it.**

**Ryan: Cool... I haven't seen that for a while.**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	48. No More Robots

Chapter Forty Eight. No More Robots.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_In the aftermath of the fight with Eusine, the Coppinger gave Katie the locations of the four minor Coppinger factions, information that she used to full effect by coming with a plan that involved splitting the ranger team up and going out to hit them at the same time. As Lance suggested they take the day off to rest first, Duo and Katie ended up in exactly the same place, Eon City where events conspired to throw them together, eventually ending with them revealing to each other how they felt. Later, they attacked Jake and Hawk fighting their way through a legion of Dog and Doombots before reaching the bad guys. In combat, Katie took Hawk down with her Battlizer, while Duo stopped Jake, returning them to their human forms. When all that was over, Duo found the other half of the Eclipse Stone, Katie pointing out that they needed to get it fixed..._

_

* * *

_

"You want a plan?" Katie asked, banging a fist against the table. "I've got a plan..."

"We're all listening," Luke said, straightening up subconsciously to further the notion that he was doing as he had said. "Go on."

"Because of what Eusine gave to us, we know the locations of the four sub-sects of Coppingers," the red ranger said. "You want radical? We split up, we take them all down together. Then, we go looking for Dennis."

She paused for a moment, letting it sink in what she was saying.

"I'm talking about smashing the Coppingers to pieces."

"What?" Ryan asked, voicing the word that the rest of the rangers had all been wanting to say in that split second. "Are you joking?"

"Not in the slightest," she replied. "We split up and take them down."

"Are you out of your mind?" Paige asked. "What happened to us being stronger as a team?"

"We are," Katie said. "Now, I hope that I'm not going to be proved wrong with this, but Dennis is the real bad guy in all of this. The Coppingers below him are just ordinary grunts. The sort that we have fought every single time..."

"What about the Dark Spectres?" Luke asked. "They weren't Coppinger grunts."

"After those, they should be a piece of cake," Katie answered, grinning. "Come on, I think that we can do this. Who's with me?"

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. Crane appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefacts. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Dark Spectres hover above Coppinger mutant monsters._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord, North Wind Megazord and Silent Strike Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

"Are we all in?" the red ranger continued, looking across the room. "I want us all to be in before we carry on. If even one of us is against it, we don't do it, we go for something else. We're a team, a team that sticks together. We put this plan into action as one, or none. Who's in? Xavier?"

"I'm in," the blue ranger replied, shrugging. "If nothing else, it should be interesting. I think it could work."

"Duo?" she continued, looking over to him to see what his opinion was. "What do you think?"

"I'm thinking we should do something less suicidal," he replied, grinning. "Like Ursaring baiting, or swimming with Sharpedo. Hell, why don't we even learn to speak Tyranitar and go tell the biggest meanest one we can find all the rude words we know..."

"I'm sorry, are you in or out?"

"I'm in, of course," he replied, sounding bemused. "What part of that didn't you get?"

"Glad to have you on board," Katie said, smiling at him, before moving on. "Paige?"

"I think that it's probably not the best idea out there, but it could work. But, I also don't think that we have any better option. With that, I'm in."

"Ryan?"

"We've come too far to not do this," the green ranger replied. "This might be quick and effective, although it might be painful. Yet, I think it's worth it. I'm in."

"Nahir?" Katie asked, glancing over to the yellow ranger. "What's your opinion?"

"I don't know the full details of the plan, that's really the sticking point. If you can come up with a good solid way of doing this that is effective, then I'll be behind you all the way."

"Luke?" the red ranger asked, glancing over to her final colleague. "What do you think here?"

"The words suicidally and reckless spring to mind," the purple ranger answered, dryly. "We really could all die here, doing this. For a start, how many of the high ranking Coppingers are likely to be really easy to beat in combat? We've struggled through against some of their creations, we've got to this point by relying on each other and also by blind luck. That said, I think that it's likely our only chance. If we hit them one at a time, they'll fade into the woodwork and we won't get another shot at them."

He paused for a moment, letting out a sigh of resignation before speaking up again.

"With that in mind, count me in."

* * *

"Okay, so..." Bill said, looking at the screen in front of him. A map of Verger was upon the monitor, four golden dots there to reveal the locations. "These are the locations that we got from Eusine. Four of them."

"So, that's two each," Xavier remarked, nodding in agreement. "Makes sense. We each hit a location at the same time."

"Errr... Xavier," Luke started to say, before being cut off by the blue ranger.

"After our battle with Eusine, we know that you can destroy the mutant part of the Coppinger," Xavier mused. "So, individually, if we can wreak enough damage on them, we can send them back to what they were."

"Xavier!" Luke shouted, silencing him. "You're missing one key detail. There's only seven of us."

"Oh," the blue ranger replied, softly. "Well, I thought that Crane would take part."

"You did, huh?" Crane asked, a grin on his face. "That's a pretty big assumption."

"Are you in, or out?" Katie asked.

"Like I'm going to miss this," he said, folding his arms. "This is going to be one heck of a battle. Besides, you guys are my friends..."

"Peh," Luke quietly choked, clearly not impressed with the admission.

"... And I'm not going to let you do this alone, not while I sit back and enjoy the explosions."

"You think there's going to be explosions?" Paige asked, surprised.

"If it gets done right, there should be," Duo commented, dryly. "Welcome on to the team."

"Sorry I never asked you, Crane," Katie admitted, slightly sheepishly. "Never occurred to me... I guess I got the numbers wrong. Drastically wrong."

"No hard feelings," he said. "Probably slipped your mind. Good thing I got my morpher back from Dorlinda."

"Something that you might need," Xavier remarked, before letting out a grin. "Hey, remember that time we all teamed up? G-Force and SDI together to take on Dark Dorlgia and those resurrected demons? Seems like forever, doesn't it?"

For a moment, everyone paused, before turning to leave as one, the green ranger in the lead.

"Okay then," Ryan said, moving towards the exit. "Let's go and get them!"

"Wait!"

* * *

The shout came from Lance, the Dragon Master moving in front of the door to block them leaving, a resigned look on his face.

"What?" Nahir asked. "We've got an unpleasant task to go at."

"I know," he replied. "But, this sounds like a tough mission. You guys have been working really hard lately, it's not an easy life."

"What are you saying?" Duo wondered, looking at him.

"All of you," Lance continued. "Take one day off and go tonight. They aren't likely to go anywhere, they don't know that he's told you where they are."

"It's actually a smart plan," Bill commented. "Relax, refresh, fillet your sole and mind before you go out at the top of your game. If you're fresh, you're more likely to succeed than if you run in half cocked. Plus, it's not more than a few hours since you fought those three cuddly bags of fun that Eusine hurled at you."

"Hey, I had to fight off an alien from the future," Crane replied, dryly. "I could do with a bit of recovery as well, actually."

"An alien from the future?" Luke wondered, glancing over at him. "You sure you want to tell us that? Sure it won't compromise your vow of secrecy?"

"Luke, calm it," Katie warned. "As opposed to an alien from now?"

"Freeth wasn't a Syodian," Crane answered. "Right now, he's toast."  
"Is that an alien race?" Duo quipped, not getting a smile as he made the joke. "Oh, come on!"

* * *

"Okay, so let's work this out," Bill said. "How are you guys going to work the teams? Or even who moves out to take on who."

"I want a crack at Jake," Duo instantly piped up. "I've got some unfinished business with him."

"You know that this is going to go well," Katie muttered, rolling her eyes. "I think I'm going to go with him, ensure that he doesn't do something stupid."

"Perish the day that might happen," Nahir commented. "Duo doing something moronic. Although, I agree with him. I have some scores to settle with Meredith. After she and that other guy tried to turn me into a Muk."

"Luke, I take it that you'll want to go with her," Xavier said, glancing over at the purple ranger. "Right?"

"Sounds like a plan," Luke commented. "We go get the effeminate weirdo and Meredith. What about the rest of you guys?"

"Mitchell and Noland vs Fuller and Copper," Paige said, rolling her eyes. "I'll go with Crane. Maybe we'll swing over to take on the latter."

"Guess it's you and me then," Ryan said, grinning at Xavier. "Wonder if we'll have to fight any robots on the way in?"

"Almost undoubtedly," Luke commented. "They do have that habit of throwing them at you."

"You managed to track them down before, right?" Xavier asked, looking at Luke. "Any tips?"

"Yeah, hit them more times than they hit you, and harder," the purple ranger said. "Helpful?"

"It's sort of on the helpful side?" Xavier said. "Closer to the not very, rather than the absolutely."

"What's the plan?" Crane asked, glancing around the room. "We meet back here before the attack, or just go from where we were before?"

"That sounds better," Katie remarked. "We meet back here when we're done..."

"Errr... Katie," Bill interrupted. "Hate to break it to you, but something just struck me. The Eclipse Stone. Jake and Hawk have half of it. Presumably, provided they haven't given it to Dennis by now. When you've got them, might as well see if you can track it down."

"We'll keep that in mind," Duo replied. "So... Break?"

"Break sounds good," Nahir muttered, the group already heading back towards the exit. "Let's get out of here."

Watching them file out of the room, Bill and Lance looked at each other, before shrugging in bemusement.

"Think I'm going to catch up on some sleep," the PokéManiac commented. "You want to keep watch up here?"

"Not really, but I will do," Lance answered. "Sweet dreams."

* * *

"Come on!" Xavier yelled, dropping the controller on the floor of the Silver Gyarados in excitement, before moving to pick it up again rather sheepishly. "One final rematch."

"We get one final day off, and you want to spend it playing video games?" Ryan asked, slightly surprised. "Really?"

"Actually, I want to spend an hour doing it to kill some time," Xavier answered, quickly. "Then, I'm going to meet up with Christy."

"Ah, Christy," Ryan mused, already picking another character to use in the Poké Rangers video game. "How's it going with her?"

"Pretty good," the blue ranger answered. "What about you? What are your plans for today?"

"Thought I might hit one of the battle places somewhere," Ryan replied. "Where you meeting her?"

"Place with a good memory for me," Xavier replied. "Waterfall Shores."

"You know it," Ryan laughed. "Are you hoping for a piece of good fortune by visiting one of the scenes of your greatest triumph?"

"More or less," Xavier said, before starting the game. "Let's get this on. Speaking of good fortune."

* * *

"Crane?"

Rolling over onto his other side, the former ranger glanced over at Paige, a curious look on his face as he ran his eyes across his girlfriend.

"Yeah?" he asked. "What?"

The two of them had decided to come to the beach, rather than spend the whole day arguing about where to go, the choice having been the middle ground of the decision. Even now, he was wearing a pair of red and gold shorts, while Paige was wearing a white bikini and flip flops as she lay on the sun lounger.

"You think this plan is going to work?" she asked, softly. "It's reckless, we're definitely weaker by splitting up to do this..."

"It's going to work," Crane answered, quickly. "I know it."

"Don't suppose that you can tell me why you know that," she wondered, a little surprised by his admission. "Or, is it 'classified'?"

She even made the air quote sign as she said it, something that annoyed hm ever so slightly.

"I've never used the classified excuse," he replied, quickly. "I'm not that cheesy. It's just... I don't want to reveal spoilers."

"Spoilers?" Paige asked, incredulous at the words. "Are you joking? This is life, not a page about on the Internet about what happens on a TV show."

"I'll make you an offer," Crane quickly said, grinning at her. "When we survive this, when we beat the Coppingers, I'll tell you everything. And, I'll enjoy your grovelling apology."

"Deal," she replied, quickly, before returning the grin with a smile. "On one condition. You tell me why it's so secret."

Musing for a moment, wondering the best way to word it, Crane finally spoke up as honest as he had been for a while.

"The 26th of March, 2026," he replied. "Something is going to happen to you that date. To all you Genesis Rangers. To you and to Katie. To Xavier and to Duo. To Ryan, to Luke and to Nahir. That's as much as I'm going to tell you now."

With that, he rolled over onto his back, arms behind his head and began to let out some snores. Trying to wonder if they were exaggerated or not, Paige glanced down at the bottle of water at her side and wondered whether or not to pour it over him. That was when she saw it on his side, something that she had never recalled seeing any time before whenever Crane had been shirtless.

At some point, he had gotten a tattoo. The black mark of CF25 visible against the reddening skin, something that surprised her. In all the time that she had known him, all the times that she had been dating him, he had never mentioned the ink before.

"Just another mystery," she said aloud, wondering whether or not to press him on it. Deciding against it, she grabbed up the bottle of water, twisted the top open and poured it all over him, the extremely cold liquid causing him to leap up like he'd been hit with an electric shock.

* * *

Xavier had just left Christy behind after the date, knowing that the day was almost over when he heard a cough in the background, the somehow familiarity of the tones drawing him in. That was when he saw the familiar figure in the alley behind the mall. A figure nearly seven feet tall with features that only could have been described as like those of an Arcanine. Although he was clearly a man, there was a clear distinction there, something that might have startled Xavier if he hadn't met the figure before several times. Although, the dark blue suit was something new, the PokéMorph having worn military fatigues the last time he had seen him.

"Xavier," Dominic West said, his voice and expression heavily neutral as he spoke. "Long time no see. How have you been?"

"Not bad," Xavier replied, quickly. "You?"

"I've been great," Dominic answered. "Hanging around, still doing work for SDI and Commander Bristow. You? Still rangering on?"

"Just about," the blue ranger said. "Actually, there's something pretty important going down tonight. So, we're all having the day off, relaxing and the like."

"Yeah, I know," Dominic replied. "Bill messaged Miranda, Miranda contacted Bristow, Bristow..."

"How are things between you and Miranda?" Xavier quickly asked, going off the topic.

"Great," the Pokémorph answered. "Got engaged to her... I think it's working so well because we were really good friends for all that time."

"I see," Xavier mused.

"Anyway, Bristow saw the message that Miranda passed on from Bill and sent me out to find you."

"What's so important that he had to do that?" the ranger asked, surprised.

Rather than immediately replying, the PokéMorph reached down behind his back and brought out a silver metal box, tossing it over at Xavier, the blue ranger catching it in one hand. As he raised an eyebrow in surprise, Dominic nodded down at it, urging him to open the thing up.

"Thought that you might need a little ace in the hole," he remarked. "That thing above us... It's working again, just for you. And, we know what else you're about to do..."

"Really, Bill told you that much?"

"... If at any point you need help, we are in a position to offer it," Dominic continued, ignoring the interruption. "I can accept that you doubtlessly wish to do it alone, but it's not a sign of weakness to get help if you require it. If nothing else, let us take the Coppingers into custody, we can lock them away where they won't ever see the light of day again."

"Actually, that doesn't sound too much like a bad idea," Xavier remarked. "Is that legal?"

"Is most of what they do legal? Is it legal to steal an ancient book and use its power to turn yourself into a mutant with the sole intention of using that power to power up the book even more and gain ultimate power which will lead you to ruling the universe?"

"I don't think there's a law against that."

"Exactly," Dominic replied. "Just let us know where and when and we'll take them into custody. Or, just forward it to Bill and your people can work it out with my people and we'll get this whole sorry mess sorted out."

"There is just one small flaw in your plan," Xavier said. "You won't be able to contain Ortari. The Lady of Time, she appears to be a key part of the Coppingers somehow. If it comes down to it, we're going to have to throw her to Clarence."

"I have no problem with that," Dominic answered. "That's just logical."

* * *

"They'll just be about ready to hit the locations now," Bill remarked, looking at the four gold dots on the giant map in front of him. "I'm trying to get some footage up as we speak. Ryan and Xavier are going after Noland in Waterfall Shores, Luke and Nahir are in Red Moon City to collar Harley and Meredith..."

"Paige and Crane are here," Lance continued, gesturing at one of the other dots. "Frodomar City for Fuller and Copper..."

"Which leaves Lassana City for Katie and Duo," Bill finished. "With Jake and Hawk..."

"Who do you reckon is going to finish first?" Lance wondered. "Who'll be the first to report in with the Coppingers behind bars?"

* * *

"A swimming pool?" Paige asked, looking up at the abandoned building in front of them. "Really?"

"Make sense for a hiding place if you think about it," Crane replied, checking his morpher for what seemed like the fiftieth time since she had soaked him. "It's out of the way, there's not much chance of someone wandering across it accidentally. And plus, if there's a swimming pool in there, there's likely to be a build up of chlorine within the areas such as the ventilation..."

"Wait, what?" the white ranger said, suddenly completely surprised. "What are the pools like in the future?"

"Rarely used," Crane replied, grinning slightly. As he did so, she couldn't quite fathom out whether he was being serious or not, something that she quickly realised didn't matter. "Want some time to compose yourself, or...?"

"Nah, I'm ready," Paige said, that being the cue for the two of them to get up and move towards the building. "So... You think there's a danger of chlorine poisoning?"

"I think there's more danger of being poisoned by a Coppinger monster," Crane commented, dryly.

* * *

Neither Xavier or Ryan had had to go too far to reach their destination. Having decided beforehand that they would be going after Noland, they had spent the day in Waterfall Shores. Now, they were in the warehouse district, having followed Bill's directions to the letter.

"What's that?" Ryan asked, glancing down at the item Xavier now held in his hand, even though most of it was obscured by his fingers clamped around it.

"Just insurance," the blue ranger replied, quickly. "A little something to equalise if we need it."

With that, he opened up his hand to show the green ranger what it was, something that caused Ryan to raise an eyebrow in approval.

"Cool..." he commented. "I haven't seen that for a while."

"That's because it doesn't belong to me," Xavier answered. "I'm just keeping hold of it for now, mainly because Bill sent a message over to what remained of SDI."

"I see," Ryan replied, moving his glance over to the warehouse. "You ready to do this?"

"Been ready for a while now," the other ranger quickly said, getting to his feet. "Let's go!"

* * *

"This place looks easy to get around," Crane remarked, pushing the door open to let Paige in ahead of him. "If you know..."

Reacting faster than Paige had expected, his hand came up to punch a hidden Dogbot in the face, the blow knocking its head off and sending it clattering to the ground.

"... Where the sentries are," he concluded. "Now, time to get running before they realise that they're missing one."

"Why the heck did you punch it out then?" Paige exclaimed, angrily rounding on him. "That was moronic and... I realise that it was necessary because they would have come out on us."

"Exactly," Crane said. "Okay, lead on!"

Nodding in reply, Paige brought her morpher up, Crane doing exactly the same thing.

"Genesis Overload!"

"Go G-Force!"

* * *

Both Xavier and Ryan had morphed into their suits long since, and were fighting against the oncoming wave of Doombots. It had failed to occur to them that since they were breaking into Noland's stronghold, they were likely to be facing Doombots.

"Nice to know we thought this through!" Ryan yelled, sarcastically, before he brought up his Fauna Hammer and crushed one of the Doombot heads, destroying it completely. As the robot crashed to the ground, another two moved in to take its place. "What's next? We wander into the unknown?"

Ignoring it, Xavier flung out his Tidal Trident, the weapon glowing with a water type energy. As it flew through the air, it knocked several Dogbots to the ground, allowing the two rangers to get past them.

"That was quick improvising," Ryan commented, as he watched Xavier scoop up the weapon. "Now, let's find those two."

* * *

Rushing into the main room of the swimming pool building, Paige and Crane immediately saw the two mutants that they had come to find, both Copper and Fuller blanking them almost deliberately with their backs to them.

"That's just rude," Paige remarked, rolling her eyes under her helmet. "Seriously."

"Excuse us, Rangers," Copper replied, not turning around at all. "Can you just exchange blows with our friends for a moment..."

At his words, the doors around them slammed open and a whole barrage of Dogbots came marching into the hall, surrounding the two rangers.

"You make friends with robots?" Paige asked, ignoring the gravity of the situation. "Seriously, what kind of loser are you? Don't answer that."

* * *

"Where are these things coming from?" Xavier groaned, picking himself up from where he had been hit by the Doombot, before impaling it with his Trident. "How many of them are there?"

"I don't want to know," Ryan replied in a yelp as he attempted to knock one of them out of the way with a shoulder barge, only to bounce off and hit the ground. To add insult to injury, one of them kicked him in the face.

That was when Mitchell appeared on the scene, the Coppinger bursting into the immediate vicinity and grabbing the green ranger up by his throat.

"Thought I'd come down and get some hits in," he remarked, tossing Ryan at the closest wall. With Xavier trying to intervene, he turned around and zapped the blue ranger with a Bug Buzz, knocking him away into another crowd of Doombots.

"Hurts, doesn't it," Mitchell taunted. "What are you going to do?"

"Xavier!" Ryan yelled, struggling up to his feet. "I'll take this guy on! You go and get Noland!"

"Are you sure?" the blue ranger asked, getting up. "Because..."

"Yeah, I can handle him!" Ryan said, softly starting to circle his opponent.

That was when Xavier brought up his Trident and struck out at Mitchell several times, each blow landing with heavy damage. As Mitchell hit the ground, groaning in pain, Xavier threw his fellow ranger a salute.

"Softened him up for you," he called, before turning for the exit. Rolling his eyes under his helmet, Ryan jumped up and kicked Mitchell in the face, staggering the Coppinger.

* * *

"I don't know the meaning of the word Surrender!" Crane yelled, swinging out his Horn Sabre to decapitate a Dogbot. "Which is why I'll never do it."

"I'm interested," Paige remarked, phasing back into view from her Ice Ball form, before kicking another one of the foot soldiers to the ground. "Is that even a word in the future?"

"Of course it is," Crane answered, shaking his head in disbelief. "It's just saved for really terrible places..."

He paused to shoot another Dogbot several times with his G-Force Blaster, sending it crashing to the ground, before turning back to the white ranger.

"... Who can't defend themselves at all when they get attacked."

That was when Fuller and Copper started their attacks. Fuller sent a Hydro Pump attack towards Crane, while Paige was hit with a Flamethrower from Copper, the twin blows enough to knock them off their feet.

"Oh, now it's on!" Paige shouted, jumping back up from the damage, a look of fury under her helmet. "Really, it's on!"

* * *

"You can't beat me!" Mitchell howled, trying to grab Ryan in a Vice Grip with his horns. "I'm your superior in every way!"

"You're part bug type is all," the green ranger shot back, managing to evade the attack. "Which means..."

He kicked Mitchell in the face, knocking him to the ground. As cracks ran out across his Slowking-like helmet, the Coppinger let out a yelp of agony, his Pinsir arms coming up to clutch at the damaged areas.

"You're going to go down even harder!" he yelled, bringing up his Fauna Hammer above his head. Before Mitchell could even make to block it, the heavy weapon came smashing down into the already damaged area of his helmet, completely destroying it.

"My head!" the Coppinger howled, clutching at the empty area in shock. "You shattered it!"

"That's just the start!" Ryan promised, his Fauna Hammer glowing with a wave of bright green energy. "You're going to have a lot more than just a headache when I'm through! Frenzy Plant!"

Hoisting the weapon back up above his head, he let out a scream of exertion as he slammed it down into Mitchell's body, the Coppinger screaming in pain as the huge thorny vines erupted out of the ground and impaled him with their ends. In an explosion of light, his mutant parts began to dissolve away along with the vines, leaving him human again.

"Uh oh!"

* * *

Moving to block the attack, Paige kicked Fuller in the stomach, forcing her away from where she was stood. As the Coppinger staggered through across the ground, the white ranger leaped after her and hit her with a corkscrew kick, sending Fuller against the wall of the hall. Across from them, Crane was battling Copper, the two trading blows in an intense way. No quarter was given or held as they found themselves matched up pretty well in all aspects of combat.

Until Copper managed to get in a lucky shot, a Mega Kick hurling the red ranger up into the air where he came crashing to the floor of the empty pool, groans pouring out of his mouth.

"That looks painful," Fuller remarked, spotting Paige hesitate for a moment in worry, before the Coppinger hit her with an Aqua Tail, staggering her back. "Although, possibly not as painful as that."

Ignoring the two of them, Copper stepped down into the pool, snickering at the fallen Crane, the red ranger still trying to move.

"You fought the Coppingers," he said, softly. "And the Coppingers..."

"Lost!"

Surprising everyone in that moment, Crane leaped up from his prone position, his fist glowing with flames and hit Copper with a sledge hammer blow that hurled him up into the air.

"What the...?" Fuller yelled, seeing the red G-Force ranger holding something in his hand that had created the flames. Such was her focus on the sight that she didn't see Paige kick her in the face, but she did hear what Crane said next.

"You mess with the Fires of Time," Crane said, the amulet in his hand as he made the declaration. "You're going to get burned."

Bringing back his arm, he hurled the object into the air, watching it sail up into the sky.

"Activate!"

At the command, the amulet burst into flames, the fire dropping down to cover him in their red hot wake, creating the armour. The heavy silver trim ran up the legs, also wrapping around the tops of his boots. Also, running across his belt, making it a shiny silver colour. Next came the drastic changes to his upper body. Similar to the silver chest plate that ran across the front of a Dialga, a large hunk of silver armour passed across his shoulders and upper body. The gem in the middle of it burned with a furiously flashing red flame, the silver trim extending out across his arms as well. And, his visor turned a dark silvery-blue colour.

"Oh come on!" Copper yelled, starting to move towards Crane. "You're not going to defeat me with that thing!"

"Even if you strike us down!" Fuller said, also starting to move towards Paige. "Our comrades will avenge us."

"Actually, the other rangers are hunting them down as we speak!" Crane replied. "Soon, your crazy gang of criminals won't exist any more! Paige!"

Screaming her name, he hurled the Rapidash Horn Sabre towards her, watching her catch it in both hands before punching down the on the gem in the middle of his armour to slow time down completely.

Somehow unaffected by it, Paige swung out with the weapon several times, impaling Fuller with each blow. Across from her, the gem in the middle of Crane's armour began to glow with a bright red colour.

"Overheat Cannon!"  
With that order, a red hot flurry of fire erupted from his chest, raking across Copper's body, the flames covering him. As time returned to normal, both Coppingers hit the ground, their mutated parts exploding as they crashed to the floor.

"That was strange," Paige commented, looking at the sword in her hand. "Want to explain how I wasn't affected by the stopping of time?"

"I'm unaffected because the Battlizer is part of me," Crane answered. "That sword is part of my armoury, it's part of the Battlizer as well. You hold it, you're essentially linked to me."

"How intimate," Paige said, before tilting her head slightly. "Did Dorlinda just tell you that in your ear?"

"Actually, he did," Crane admitted, holding his hands up in admission.

* * *

Running up the corridor, Xavier saw some strange metal structures lining around the wall ahead of him. Without really pausing to wonder what they were, he kept on running, passing underneath them...

And was thrown forward by a sudden zap of something from above, the blast hurling him to the ground.

"Congratulations!" the smug voice of Noland rang out from somewhere around him. Glancing up, he saw a speaker above him, the sound coming out from it. "You've been selected to test my brand new ranger trapper one thousand. I'm right behind that door up ahead..."

Almost involuntarily, Xavier glanced up and saw a door at the end of the hall way, only to look up at the ceiling and realise...

"... Behind at least five more of these little beauties," the Coppinger preened. "What sort of condition will you be in when you reach me? Will you reach me?"

Ignoring him, the blue ranger continued on towards the door, only pausing for a second as he realised he was going to pass through another conductor. Drawing in a deep breath, he stepped forward...

And felt the electrical surge pass through him again, the severe blast forcing him to his knees.

"Got to love watching this," the sarcastic voice of Noland came out again. "This is a really interesting device I built to keep myself safe in the event of you coming for me. It tracks the flow of the Genesis energy used in your morpher and reverses the flow, causing you pain. Great, right?"

Getting back to his feet, Xavier saw parts of his ranger suit vanish away for a split second before returning.

"That's an interesting side effect," Noland remarked. "Really, it is. Seems it weakens the morphing connection."

Really making the effort to ignore him this time, Xavier up and started to sprint, hitting the final three at a run in an attempt to lessen the impact.

It didn't work. As he reached the door at the end, he was almost in the foetal position, crawling on the ground, much to the amusement of the Coppinger judging by the sounds of laughter coming from the speakers. Reaching up to the door handle, he slowly pulled himself up with it, managing to slide through the door.

When the first thing that hit him, quite literally, was a chair. Staggered by the blow, he looked up to see Noland coming in for another attack with the heavy implement, throwing both arms up to block it. He managed one better, ripping it away out of Noland's hands, before the Coppinger kicked him in the stomach. In combination with all the other attacks, it was enough to collapse him, forcing the blue ranger to demorph out of his suit.

"You're going down, blue ranger," Noland laughed, folding his arms in glee. "I've defeated you."

That was when Xavier realised the pain was starting to subside, it hadn't been as harsh since he had been forced out of his ranger costume. Which meant that he wasn't defeated, especially since he still had his ace in the hole.

"Now, you've really annoyed me," the blue ranger said, getting up to his feet. "And, you're going to regret it!"

"Too bad you can't morph again," Noland taunted, quickly moving to taunt as he realised that he was okay for the moment. "Based on my studies, you need time to recharge it."

"I can't morph into the blue ranger," Xavier shot back, bringing out his SDI Morpher. "I brought a spare morpher! SDI! Time to battle!"

As the morpher opened up, a stream of white energy erupted out from within, covering Xavier. His armour was all red, apart from his gloves and boots which were separated from the red by a gold band. The same colour that was his belt, the buckler which had the words SDI upon the middle of it. The same logo was on the band around his gloves and boots. The chest of his uniform had a white star like pattern upon it. His helmet began to appear, materialising around his face. The top of it had an Entei-like theme, while the black visor was shaped like a shield. There was no mouthpiece. At his waist, there was a blaster.

"Eeep," Noland said, suddenly a bit worried. "What's your plan now? What are you going to do?"

"This!" the now red ranger said, proudly raising both hands up to the sky. "Satellite Ranger! Now!"

High above them, the SDI Satellite began to whir into gear. Emitting a focused beam of data straight down into his morpher. And, it began to come into focus. Black and gold armour with red zig zags materialising over his body, covering his upper body, legs, gloves and boots. In the middle of his chest, an SDI logo appeared there in white, while the visor on his helmet turned from black to red and white. On his back, an armoured jet pack could be seen, while a pair of red, black, white and gold katana's appeared in his hands.

"What the...?" Noland exclaimed, taking a step back in surprise. "That's not right!"

"Neither are you," Xavier replied, rushing forward to attack. "SDI Cyber Strike!"

Bringing up his swords, Xavier felt them both begin to glow with a bright energy, before he struck out, watching them hit Noland in the chest, cutting away through his skin to leave deep gashes.

As Noland screamed out in pain, the red ranger made to go at it again, starting to combine them together at the hilt.

"Satellite Overload!"

With one long double bladed sword in his hands, he began to spin it around in a circle, the blades glowing with a bright red energy, energy that was built up within the spinning blade before being unleashed in one huge concentrated blast towards Noland.

Hitting him in the stomach, the blast of energy threw the Coppinger back against the wall, Noland exploding on contact as he slid down to the ground, his mutated side vanishing away into nothing as he came to a halt on the ground.

* * *

As Crane and Paige came out of the swimming pool building, they were greeted by the sight of two black vans pulling up in the car park, several people in black uniforms coming out of them.

"What the...?" the white ranger asked, as one of them came over to them, a corporal holding out an ID badge.

"We're with SDI," he replied. "Corporal Brian Jones, we're here to take care of those Coppingers."

"Are you sure?" Crane asked, moving to stand in front of Paige, blocking her slightly with his arm. He had meant it as a protective gesture, but even as he was doing so, he remembered that she could turn herself incorporeal, meaning that it was irrelevant.

Yet, she still squeezed his hand, signalling that she appreciated the gesture.

"Feel free to check with Bill if need be," Corporal Jones replied. "If nothing else, I'd feel much better if you did."

* * *

Away in Waterfall Shores, the same thing was happening to Ryan and Xavier, only the difference was that the one coming out to greet them was a Lieutenant Anders.

* * *

And, back in Lassana City, as they came out of the abandoned mansion where they had fought Hawk and Jake, on their way to Sycamore City to hunt down Chester Biel, Katie and Duo found themselves encountering Dominic...

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**And, in Red Moon City with Luke and Nahir... You'll have to wait until next time to find out what went down.**

**The reason that both Xavier and Crane use their Battlizers again... Well, part of me is remembering that Forever Red is premiering in just over two weeks. So, that was probably part of it.**

**In two weeks, this fic could well be finished. Although, I would wager that Cosmo Force might not have premiered by then.**

**And, the return of Dominic. Who may well be back for the final, along with some very other familiar faces.**

**Next one is entitled Harley's Endgame. Preview below.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Please! Noland is answering this chapter's reviews.**

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**

**Chapter Forty Nine, Harley's Endgame, preview.**

**Nahir: So, what to do?**

**Luke: Check this out.**

**Katie: Chester Biel, long time no see.**

**Harley: Well well well, look what the Meowth dragged into my hole.**

**Nahir: You want to make the joke or shall I?**

**?: Isn't this a peaceful scene.**

**Luke: What are you doing here?**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon.**


	49. Harley's Endgame

Chapter Forty Nine. Harley's Endgame.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_In the aftermath of the fight with Eusine, the Coppinger gave Katie the locations of the four minor Coppinger factions, information that she used to full effect by coming with a plan that involved splitting the ranger team up and going out to hit them at the same time. As Lance suggested they take the day off to rest first. Crane, Paige, Xavier and Ryan all went their separate ways, only for Xavier to encounter Dominic towards the end of the day, the PokéMorph offering the help of SDI if it was needed. At the same time, the two groups of rangers went off to fight Fuller and Noland's branches of the Coppingers. The battles were tough, but they managed to prevail, as SDI agents to show up and take the defeated Coppingers into custody..._

_

* * *

_

"You want a plan?" Katie asked, banging a fist against the table. "I've got a plan..."

"We're all listening," Luke said, straightening up subconsciously to further the notion that he was doing as he had said. "Go on."

"Because of what Eusine gave to us, we know the locations of the four sub-sects of Coppingers," the red ranger said. "You want radical? We split up, we take them all down together. Then, we go looking for Dennis."

She paused for a moment, letting it sink in what she was saying.

"I'm talking about smashing the Coppingers to pieces."

"What?" Ryan asked, voicing the word that the rest of the rangers had all been wanting to say in that split second. "Are you joking?"

"Not in the slightest," she replied. "We split up and take them down."

"Are you out of your mind?" Paige asked. "What happened to us being stronger as a team?"

"We are," Katie said. "Now, I hope that I'm not going to be proved wrong with this, but Dennis is the real bad guy in all of this. The Coppingers below him are just ordinary grunts. The sort that we have fought every single time..."

"What about the Dark Spectres?" Luke asked. "They weren't Coppinger grunts."

"After those, they should be a piece of cake," Katie answered, grinning. "Come on, I think that we can do this. Who's with me?"

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. Crane appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefacts. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Dark Spectres hover above Coppinger mutant monsters._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord, North Wind Megazord and Silent Strike Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

"Are we all in?" the red ranger continued, looking across the room. "I want us all to be in before we carry on. If even one of us is against it, we don't do it, we go for something else. We're a team, a team that sticks together. We put this plan into action as one, or none. Who's in? Xavier?"

"I'm in," the blue ranger replied, shrugging. "If nothing else, it should be interesting. I think it could work."

"Duo?" she continued, looking over to him to see what his opinion was. "What do you think?"

"I'm thinking we should do something less suicidal," he replied, grinning. "Like Ursaring baiting, or swimming with Sharpedo. Hell, why don't we even learn to speak Tyranitar and go tell the biggest meanest one we can find all the rude words we know..."

"I'm sorry, are you in or out?"

"I'm in, of course," he replied, sounding bemused. "What part of that didn't you get?"

"Glad to have you on board," Katie said, smiling at him, before moving on. "Paige?"

"I think that it's probably not the best idea out there, but it could work. But, I also don't think that we have any better option. With that, I'm in."

"Ryan?"

"We've come too far to not do this," the green ranger replied. "This might be quick and effective, although it might be painful. Yet, I think it's worth it. I'm in."

"Nahir?" Katie asked, glancing over to the yellow ranger. "What's your opinion?"

"I don't know the full details of the plan, that's really the sticking point. If you can come up with a good solid way of doing this that is effective, then I'll be behind you all the way."

"Luke?" the red ranger asked, glancing over to her final colleague. "What do you think here?"

"The words suicidally and reckless spring to mind," the purple ranger answered, dryly. "We really could all die here, doing this. For a start, how many of the high ranking Coppingers are likely to be really easy to beat in combat? We've struggled through against some of their creations, we've got to this point by relying on each other and also by blind luck. That said, I think that it's likely our only chance. If we hit them one at a time, they'll fade into the woodwork and we won't get another shot at them."

He paused for a moment, letting out a sigh of resignation before speaking up again.

"With that in mind, count me in."

* * *

"Okay, so..." Bill said, looking at the screen in front of him. A map of Verger was upon the monitor, four golden dots there to reveal the locations. "These are the locations that we got from Eusine. Four of them."

"So, that's two each," Xavier remarked, nodding in agreement. "Makes sense. We each hit a location at the same time."

"Errr... Xavier," Luke started to say, before being cut off by the blue ranger.

"After our battle with Eusine, we know that you can destroy the mutant part of the Coppinger," Xavier mused. "So, individually, if we can wreak enough damage on them, we can send them back to what they were."

"Xavier!" Luke shouted, silencing him. "You're missing one key detail. There's only seven of us."

"Oh," the blue ranger replied, softly. "Well, I thought that Crane would take part."

"You did, huh?" Crane asked, a grin on his face. "That's a pretty big assumption."

"Are you in, or out?" Katie asked.

"Like I'm going to miss this," he said, folding his arms. "This is going to be one heck of a battle. Besides, you guys are my friends..."

"Peh," Luke quietly choked, clearly not impressed with the admission.

"... And I'm not going to let you do this alone, not while I sit back and enjoy the explosions."

"You think there's going to be explosions?" Paige asked, surprised.

"If it gets done right, there should be," Duo commented, dryly. "Welcome on to the team."

"Sorry I never asked you, Crane," Katie admitted, slightly sheepishly. "Never occurred to me... I guess I got the numbers wrong. Drastically wrong."

"No hard feelings," he said. "Probably slipped your mind. Good thing I got my morpher back from Dorlinda."

"Something that you might need," Xavier remarked, before letting out a grin. "Hey, remember that time we all teamed up? G-Force and SDI together to take on Dark Dorlgia and those resurrected demons? Seems like forever, doesn't it?"

For a moment, everyone paused, before turning to leave as one, the green ranger in the lead.

"Okay then," Ryan said, moving towards the exit. "Let's go and get them!"

"Wait!"

* * *

The shout came from Lance, the Dragon Master moving in front of the door to block them leaving, a resigned look on his face.

"What?" Nahir asked. "We've got an unpleasant task to go at."

"I know," he replied. "But, this sounds like a tough mission. You guys have been working really hard lately, it's not an easy life."

"What are you saying?" Duo wondered, looking at him.

"All of you," Lance continued. "Take one day off and go tonight. They aren't likely to go anywhere, they don't know that he's told you where they are."

"It's actually a smart plan," Bill commented. "Relax, refresh, fillet your sole and mind before you go out at the top of your game. If you're fresh, you're more likely to succeed than if you run in half cocked. Plus, it's not more than a few hours since you fought those three cuddly bags of fun that Eusine hurled at you."

"Hey, I had to fight off an alien from the future," Crane replied, dryly. "I could do with a bit of recovery as well, actually."

"An alien from the future?" Luke wondered, glancing over at him. "You sure you want to tell us that? Sure it won't compromise your vow of secrecy?"

"Luke, calm it," Katie warned. "As opposed to an alien from now?"

"Freeth wasn't a Syodian," Crane answered. "Right now, he's toast."  
"Is that an alien race?" Duo quipped, not getting a smile as he made the joke. "Oh, come on!"

* * *

"Okay, so let's work this out," Bill said. "How are you guys going to work the teams? Or even who moves out to take on who."

"I want a crack at Jake," Duo instantly piped up. "I've got some unfinished business with him."

"You know that this is going to go well," Katie muttered, rolling her eyes. "I think I'm going to go with him, ensure that he doesn't do something stupid."

"Perish the day that might happen," Nahir commented. "Duo doing something moronic. Although, I agree with him. I have some scores to settle with Meredith. After she and that other guy tried to turn me into a Muk."

"Luke, I take it that you'll want to go with her," Xavier said, glancing over at the purple ranger. "Right?"

"Sounds like a plan," Luke commented. "We go get the effeminate weirdo and Meredith. What about the rest of you guys?"

"Mitchell and Noland vs Fuller and Copper," Paige said, rolling her eyes. "I'll go with Crane. Maybe we'll swing over to take on the latter."

"Guess it's you and me then," Ryan said, grinning at Xavier. "Wonder if we'll have to fight any robots on the way in?"

"Almost undoubtedly," Luke commented. "They do have that habit of throwing them at you."

"You managed to track them down before, right?" Xavier asked, looking at Luke. "Any tips?"

"Yeah, hit them more times than they hit you, and harder," the purple ranger said. "Helpful?"

"It's sort of on the helpful side?" Xavier said. "Closer to the not very, rather than the absolutely."

"What's the plan?" Crane asked, glancing around the room. "We meet back here before the attack, or just go from where we were before?"

"That sounds better," Katie remarked. "We meet back here when we're done..."

"Errr... Katie," Bill interrupted. "Hate to break it to you, but something just struck me. The Eclipse Stone. Jake and Hawk have half of it. Presumably, provided they haven't given it to Dennis by now. When you've got them, might as well see if you can track it down."

"We'll keep that in mind," Duo replied. "So... Break?"

"Break sounds good," Nahir muttered, the group already heading back towards the exit. "Let's get out of here."

Watching them file out of the room, Bill and Lance looked at each other, before shrugging in bemusement.

"Think I'm going to catch up on some sleep," the PokéManiac commented. "You want to keep watch up here?"

"Not really, but I will do," Lance answered. "Sweet dreams."

* * *

"So, what to do?" Nahir asked, as she and Luke walked out of the room, moving away from the rest of the rangers. "What to..."

"You're assuming that I want to do something with you today," the purple ranger said, raising an eyebrow down at her. "Really, that's..."

He saw the expression that she was giving him and quickly relented, deciding that it was a bad idea to keep the joke going.

"Yeah, that was a stupid joke," he quickly added, giving her a charming grin. "Sorry, so... What do you want?"

"I'll let you decide," she said, accepting his way of apology. "Want to do something relaxing, or something which involves completely the opposite?"

"I tell you what," Luke said, grinning at her. "Check this out. Something that my family recently acquired and I've been wanting to test it out for a while."

"Is it going to be dangerous? I remember when your family bought that amusement park..."

"Nah, it's not something with a potentially lethal roller coaster," Luke quickly answered. "That was a bad idea, as ideas go it was awful, don't know what Dad was thinking."

Letting the subject drop, he flashed her a grin.

"But, this is much better!"

* * *

"I can't believe you sometimes," Nahir remarked, looking across the horizon. "Rather than spend the day hanging around on a boat, we're..."

She paused, standing up to gesture at the ocean around the two of them, the engines of the boat humming in the background.

"... Spending the day on a boat."

"Actually, we're spending an hour on a boat," Luke replied, quickly. "And then we're landing at this deserted island that my family purchased..."

"How can you own an island?" she asked, moving into her philosophical mode. "An island is part of the ocean, you can't own an ocean."

"I know," the purple ranger answered. "You can't own an ocean... Which since my family owns the drinks company is a shame. Good source of that salt flavoured water we could start to market."

"Drinking salt water drives you insane," Nahir pointed out. "So, I doubt you'd get away with that."

"I'm joking," Luke protested. "That's not something that we'd do. But, back on the subject of the island, it's legally classed as land, which means that it can be purchased."

"Really?"

"That's the way here in Verger," he confirmed. "If nowhere else. Anyway, just you and me alone with the sand."

"Well, I appreciate the thought," she replied. "But, you don't have to try and impress me this way."

"Believe me, I'm not," the purple ranger said, suddenly looking mildly insulted by what she had said. "Seriously, I'm not. I know that it wouldn't impress you, you're not the type of girl who is going to like me more because I show up in a limo..."

"Two things," Nahir quipped. "One, like the girls that you probably dated before, and two, I'm not that superficial."

This time, the insulted expression was replaced with hurt, as Luke turned back to the controls of the boat. Looking at him, the yellow ranger knew that she had touched a nerve, she found herself wondering how best to get back across to him.

"I was joking..." she said, lightly. "So, what's this island like?"

Still he didn't reply, almost intentionally forcing the engines to go even louder as the boat powered on.

"Jeez, touch a nerve much?"

That was when he turned around, a grin on his face, and she realised that she'd bought his desolate Growlithe act a little too much.

"The island...?" he asked, glancing over to the place in question. "It looks okay from here. Of course, it could be a fetid swamp when we get there, but I don't know."

* * *

"Best fetid swamp ever," Nahir muttered, dreamily. Rather than the way Luke had described it in the sense of a worse case scenario, it had turned out to be completely the opposite. The beach had some of the whitest sands she had ever seen, the sun was reflecting off the water to brilliantly illuminate it as far as the eye could see. Both of them were in swimwear, having enjoyed the mild waters in front of them earlier. "Can't believe that you own this place."

"Yeah, you want the truth?" he asked, a sheepish look passing across his face. "We don't actually own it. It's the far side of Starburst Island."

His admission was enough to force her up from where she lay, the annoyed yellow ranger whipping her discarded shirt across his reddening chest, the sting racing across his skin and causing him to hiss in pain.

"What's wrong with you?" she demanded, angrily. "Why would you lie about that?"

"Thought it'd be funny to see your reaction," he groaned, rubbing his stomach. "Ouch, by the way. Not while I'm tanning."

"There's a moral in this story," she commented, dryly. "Don't tell moronic lies about owning islands."

"Hey, it could be worse," Luke said, sitting up on the sands. "We could be trespassing. Or, we could be on that island from that TV show... Whichever one it is."

"So many TV shows feature islands," Nahir muttered. "Seems a trifle unoriginal now. All is on to find the next new trend that is going to bore and irritate us for the next several months."

"Amen," he said, settling back down onto his back. "Although, your knowledge of inside processes at the networks is quite surprising."

"The only thing that should surprise you about me by now is that I'm full of surprises," Nahir commented, before blinking slightly at what she had just said. "Wait, did that make sense? That's your influence dumbing me down."

"Yeah, that's your excuse," he grumbled. "Blame me for everything. Blame me for you losing the plot. Blame me for..."

"You're starting to sound like you've got a persecution complex," the yellow ranger said. "Either that, or you need to stop whining. Whichever way is good."

"Really?" he asked. "Me, a whiner? Are you really quite sure about that? I may be many things, but..."

"I seem to remember that the first few months into our time at SDI, you did nothing but complain about everything."

"Everything's pretty harsh," Luke shot back. "We were getting beat up by demons almost every other week, I think that's cause to have some complaints."

"You complained about the food, the training schedule, the living accommodation, the sound of the ocean..."

"You complained when Bristow made you go and babysit that scientist while the rest of us got shot at by that demon," the purple ranger retorted. "Remember that?"

"Once," Nahir muttered, before letting out a smile at the memories. "Heh, remember those few first weeks in SDI? I think each and every one of us had reason to storm into Bristow's office and rebel in our own way against the plan of action that had been taken. I did it, you did it, Xavier did it... I think Katie might have done it. Did Danni ever...?"

"Nah, she got her arguing out of the way as soon as we met him," Luke remarked, remembering what had happened. "When Bristow... Is blackmail a too ugly term to describe how he got her to become one of the SDI rangers?"

"Actually, I think that's probably the correct word in this circumstance," Nahir said. "Good reason to argue, unlike us who were just angry."

For several moments, the two of them just sat there in silence, listening to the roar of the ocean in front of them, before Luke spoke up again.

"You know what I miss most about that time?" he asked. "And, I hope it doesn't make me sound masochistic. Sometimes, I miss the arguments we had back then. This has been an interesting throwback."

"I don't think we disliked each other as people hearing those arguments might have thought," Nahir said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "That said, I definitely prefer the relationship we have now."

"Personally, I considered the argumentative part of your personality one of the reasons that you were so appealing," Luke muttered, something that brought a startled reaction from the yellow ranger.

"What?"

"You do know I had a crush on you for quite a while," he said. "In a way, when that angel came along and Katie suggested that part of the bet, she did me a huge favour, really helped me get past that insecurity that you didn't like me in that way."

"Thought that it wasn't an angel," Nahir quickly said, almost purposely ignoring most of what he had said. "Which means that this whole relationship is built on a lie and I missed out on a months worth of servitude from you... And, I thought that I'd wasted my money when I got that maid's uniform..."

"I know it wasn't an angel," Luke replied, desperately back pedalling away from what he'd said before. "It's just common courtesy to refer to it as the angel incident because it's easier than saying the angel that wasn't an angel incident."

That was when he rolled over and looked at her with a raised eyebrow of surprise.

"Hang on!" the purple ranger exclaimed, still slightly unsure as to whether or not he had heard her correctly. "If you've got a maid's costume, then why are we on the beach when we could be..."

"Please, for the love of all that is tasteful, can you not finish that sentence," Nahir quickly interrupted. "It's not a lot really. Just something that I may have picked up from a courier service in Veilstone City."

"I'm going to repeat the question, only without actually saying it," Luke replied, still staring at her. "Really? Seriously?"

* * *

"What the heck is that?"

The question came from Bill as he came out onto the bridge of the Silver Gyarados, managing to rub his eyes and stifle a yawn at the same time. It had been directed towards the dull trill of the alarm, something that Lance had been trying to shut off for the last several minutes, all to little avail.

"Just trying to shut it off!" the Dragon Master muttered, looking at the screen that was asking for a password. "What's the...?"

"172263," Bill said, watching Lance move to tap in the code, his actions immediately shutting off the alarm. "That's the foreign body alarm, it means that the satellite has picked something up that it shouldn't have."

"Genesis Mutant?" Lance asked, unable to believe the bad luck. "And the rangers are on their day off. Terrific."

"I don't think so," Bill mused, coming on over to the console to look at it. "Let me see here..."

* * *

"This part of the relationship is definitely better," Luke muttered, rubbing his fingers down Nahir's spine as she continued her provocative actions of kissing his neck, her body across his. "Beats the hell out of arguing any day of the week."

His eyes half closed in the heat of the moment, the two rangers heard a voice above them, one completely out of the blue.

"Isn't this a peaceful scene."

Both of them jumping up in shock, they saw who had spoken. Or rather, what. Hovering about ten feet above them, was Nikitca.

"What are you doing here?" Luke demanded, sitting up. "Don't go sneaking around like that, it's creepy."

"Hey, Nikitca," Nahir said, ignoring his outburst. "How've you been?"

"Our return to Syodia was well received, the stories of our battles upon this planet alongside you have been heralded as a tale for the years," Nikitca answered. "The seven of you are now held in high regard on Syodia, and if you ever choose to visit, you will be applauded as you walk the streets. But, to answer your question, I am very well."

"Wow, can't put into words how much we've missed you," Luke muttered, his voice dry and sarcastic. It took precisely all of half a second for Nahir to bring back her elbow and poke him in the stomach for his slip of the tongue.

"You don't need to," Nikitca remarked, softly. "Telepathy."

"Then you know what I'm going to ask next," Luke said. "What are you doing here?"

"We're all here," the red Syodian ranger answered. "Somewhere. While meditating, each of us experienced visions of the future. Your race might call them premonitions. It showed the seven of you in deep trouble, meaning that we immediately came on over to warn you."

"We're Poké Rangers," Nahir offered. "We're always in deep trouble. It comes with the territory."

"Like having cool weapons and skin tight costumes," Luke added, shrugging. "If nothing else though, thanks for the warning."

"That was the official excuse," Nikitca replied, moving to correct him. "What we're really here for, is to offer you help should you require it. Our ship is in orbit, we can be on the planet within minutes if you require our help."

"We're very touched," Nahir said, mulling it over in her mind. "Thanks for remembering us, thanks for the offer. We'll be sure to take you up on it if we need it."

* * *

"They'll just be about ready to hit the locations now," Bill remarked, looking at the four gold dots on the giant map in front of him. "I'm trying to get some footage up as we speak. Ryan and Xavier are going after Noland in Waterfall Shores, Luke and Nahir are in Red Moon City to collar Harley and Meredith..."

"Paige and Crane are here," Lance continued, gesturing at one of the other dots. "Frodomar City for Fuller and Copper..."

"Which leaves Lassana City for Katie and Duo," Bill finished. "With Jake and Hawk..."

"Who do you reckon is going to finish first?" Lance wondered. "Who'll be the first to report in with the Coppingers behind bars?"

* * *

"Which apartment do you think it is?"

Looking at the address that they had been given, first by Eusine and then by Bill, Nahir had to admit that they probably were in the right place. However, the Coppinger had simply given the location of the building, a thriving apartment block in the middle of Red Moon City, rather than a specific room.

"Never mind that," the yellow ranger replied. "If this fight turns really violent, people might get hurt badly. This is a crowded area, an enclosed space..."

"We always fight in those type of areas," Luke said. "Maybe not to this extent, but..."

"I'm not joking," Nahir interrupted, shooting him a dark look. "This could get dangerous. You said it yourself, not to this extent. What happens if..."

This time, it was Luke's turn to interrupt her, the purple ranger patting her on the shoulder.

"You worry to much, Nahir," he said, softly. "The plan is to set the fire alarm off and get the place evacuated. That way, there won't be much danger apart from falling objects if we chuck someone out of a window. And with that, hopefully they'll display the common sense to move out of the way."

"Actually, that plan does make sense," the yellow ranger conceded. "Now, all we need to do is work out which room they're on, which floor..."

"Think it might be the penthouse," Luke said. "I think we should find our way up there."

"Why the penthouse?"  
"It's the most private room of the house, apart from the roof, it has the best view of the city around it, it can only be accessed by the lift..."

He paused, looking her up and down with bemusement.

"You want me to carry on giving out reasons?"

"If you've got any more."

Not letting that dissuade him, he carried on listing the reasons why he thought it was where they were hiding, ending with the fact that the Coppingers had massive financial backing, meaning that it wasn't any object to rent the suite for the best part of six months.

"Alright, let's do it," Nahir said, conceding defeat. "That makes sense. When we get in, you hit the alarms and I'll summon the lift."

"Won't the lift not work if there's a fire alarm active?" Luke asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "Might need to rethink that through."

"Ah, an obstacle," the yellow ranger mused, looking around in deep thought. "How can we overcome it? There must be some way that we can activate the lift, but also guarantee that the fire alarm gets set off."

While she was speaking, Luke had marched off towards a scruffy looking teenager across from them, a grin on his face.

"Hey, man," he said, trying not to look suspicious. "Want to earn some quick cash?"

"How much?" the teenager asked, his face lighting up with interest at the offer of money. "And what do you want?"

"I'll give you a hundred dollars if you go into that building exactly three minutes after I've gone in and set the fire alarm off," the purple ranger said, taking the money out of his pocket and flicking a finger across the ends of them. "What do you say?"

"Hand it over," the teenager replied, holding out his hands with barely concealed greed. "I'll do it."

"I'll pay you half now and half when I come out," Luke said, still keeping eye contact with the teenager. "That sound good?"  
"Hell yeah," his salivating friend replied. "Go for it."

"Yeah..." Luke said, ripping the set of notes straight down the middle, before handing one half to the teenager. "Just call me careful. I'll give you the other half when I come out, you can tape them together."

With that, he turned back over towards Nahir, a smirk on his face as he put the torn notes in his pocket.

* * *

"Was that really the best way to go about it?" the yellow ranger asked, as they got in the lift. Unlike most other ones of its type, it had a spiderweb-like design at the roof with some of the area above visible between the gaps, each of the gaps large enough to fit at least a small person through. Above that, they could see the darkness of the shaft, could hear the whine and grind of the cable in the core of the spiderweb design. "Bribe someone to set it off? Seems a little immoral."

"You have a better solution?"

"Appeal to the kinder nature of someone?" Nahir suggested, hitting the button to take them up towards the penthouse. "That could always work."

"We're in Red Moon City, not La-La-Land," Luke said, rolling his eyes as the big metal box began to ascend. "People don't have kinder natures, just empty stomachs. Trust me, that plan is moron proof."

"I know you too well," Nahir retorted. "And, you're nowhere near as cynical as you make out to be at times."

"Perhaps I'm not cynical enough," the purple ranger remarked, glancing at the digital readout telling them which floor they were on. Currently, they were halfway up on their journey, at floor eighteen. "You want to morph and charge in, or charge in and then morph?"

"Let's see whether we're right or not first," Nahir said. "Don't want you charging in there like a demented Tauros and staking the first thing you see with your Psycho Spear."

"Of course," Luke replied. "Unless I am right, which let's face it is a great possibility. Then charging in there and staking the first thing I see is a great plan."

That was when, between the thirty first and the thirty second floors, the fire alarm rang out and the lift ground to a halt.

"Ah, crap," the purple ranger said, his shoulders dropping. "I'm going to kick the crap out of that kid when we get out of here."

"Thought this plan was moron proof," Nahir remarked, only a trace of sarcasm in her voice. "Now, we're the morons trapped in a lift."

* * *

The two of them had been stood there for the best part of ten minutes when they heard the doors above them start to open, the strained sounds signalling that they were being forced apart. And, as they reached their full open state, a face poked through them, probably the last thing that they wanted to see in their current predicament.

"Well well well," Harley chirped, looking down at them with a sneer on his face. "Look what the Meowth dragged into my hole."

"You want to make the joke, or shall I?" Nahir asked, shaking her head. "Because..."

"If this is your hole, it's a happy coincidence," Luke remarked, craning his neck up to look at the Coppinger. "Because, it smells like your ass."

"Burn!"

Rather surprisingly, the voice came from Meredith, who appeared next to Harley almost from out of nowhere.

"I've got to hand it to you," she remarked, sarcastically. "That was quite a good insult. Face it, Ro, you set yourself up for that one."

"Which side are you on?" Harley demanded, petulance audible in his voice. "Seriously, I want to know."

"Yours."

"Then stop insulting me!" he snapped. "I'm trying to appear intimidating in front of our guests."

"Ah, are we having them in for a sandwich and a cup of tea?" Meredith asked, laughing as she said it. "Or, shall we just send them dropping to their doom?"

"Oh, I think the latter, Meredith my dear," Harley trilled. "Such a terrible accident to be caught in the lift when a fire alarm sounds. Even worse that the cable accidentally snaps following years of tension."

"That doesn't sound very accidental," Meredith said, instantly. "That sounds more like it would happen on purpose."

"Jeez, I've seen smarter Slowpoke," Nahir said, loudly. "And not the more intelligent ones either, I saw one that was blind, deaf, dumb and clinically stupid."

"Is that an actual condition?" Luke asked, shrugging his shoulders. "Being clinically stupid? Because, I always wanted to..."

"If it is, it applies to her above us," Nahir continued, seeing Meredith grow even angrier by the second. "Because..."

"Hey, shut up!" the Coppinger screeched. "Come up here and say that!"

"Weren't you going to drop us to our death?" Luke asked. "Now, you're offering us a route up there? That's nice, cheers."

At this point, Harley let out a frustrated scream, reaching over to punch the wall in frustration.

"Meredith, let me do the thinking, honey," he said, pushing her out of the way. "You stand back and be quietly diabolical."

"She probably has to do that out loud," Nahir commented, before quickly shutting up as Harley reached out into the shaft and took a swipe at the cable, his Cacturne claws striking the metallic rope. All around the two rangers, the metal box began to shake, but held tough against his attack.

"Guess it's stronger than I thought," the Coppinger grunted, reaching out to take another swipe at the cable.

Below him, Luke took a deep breath, trying to regain some composure before looking over at Nahir.

"I've got a plan," he said, softly. "Might not work, it might be fantastic, but..."

"I'm game", she instantly replied, eager for the two of them to make the exit from the lift before they were killed when Harley inevitably sent it crashing to the bottom of the shaft. "What is it?"

"Jump," the purple ranger replied, moving into a crouching position, both hands in front of him. "You take a running jump, I boost you up into the air and then I try to levitate you up through the doors. You distract those two while I pull myself out."  
Even as he finished speaking, she burst out laughing, unable to believe what she had heard. One further look at the purple ranger told her that he was serious.

"That's not going to work," she insisted. "Besides, I'm not leaving you here."

"Aww, that's sweet," he said, feeling anything but joy at her desire to stick by him. "You're actually giving me a better chance of survival here, because if you get up there and get them away from the cable..."

"I still don't think this is going to work," the yellow ranger conceded. "Are your telekinetic abilities even that strong?"

"I think so," he replied, still crouching down on one knee, despite the best attempts of another attack from Harley trying to dislodge him. In the heat of the moment, it occurred to him that it probably looked like he was proposing when he recovered his pose. "Now, come on!"

Sighing heavily, Nahir took a step back to the far wall of the lift, before sprinting forward and bouncing onto Luke's outstretched hand, wondering how high she was going to go...

... Only for his telekinetic abilities to really grab hold of her, easily sending her through one of the gaps in the roof of the lift to level with the startled Harley who was thrown back as she hit him with a roundhouse kick before managing to jump through the open doors of the shaft.

Below her, Luke began to try and reach the gaps in the roof on his own, determined to find some way to climb through it by himself.

* * *

No sooner had Nahir landed did she realise that Meredith was on the rampage, desperate to take some revenge for the savage insults that the yellow ranger had hurled at her minutes earlier. Fortunately for Nahir, she hadn't morphed and was able to use her super speed to accelerate out of the way, kicking the female Coppinger in the back for good measure, sending her staggering forward, almost down the shaft.

Around her, she was barely aware that Harley had got to his feet and was screaming something, something that she realised probably wasn't a good thing.

Bringing up her morpher, she finally recognised the shouts as the words Kill Her. With that in mind, she activated the device, pushing the button down as far as it would go.

"Genesis Overload!"

Transforming into her ranger suit, she brought the Storm Staff out and used it to swat Harley back away from her, the ends of the weapon crackling with a powerful electric charge. Roaring in pain, Harley's hands began to glow, the Coppinger forcing out a Seed Bomb attack at her. Despite her best efforts to dodge, she couldn't help but yell out in pain as several of the explosive seeds crashed against her legs.

* * *

Grunting with the effort he was exerting to pull himself out of the metal box, Luke heard her scream above him, his blood running cold at the sound, all the chambers of his heart urging him to move faster.

"Come on," he muttered, finally dragging himself from the confines of the box, managing to squeeze through the confined gap at the roof. Since he was large than Nahir, he hadn't found it as easy to get through, but he had managed to boost himself up a few inches with his telekinetic abilities.

Standing up on the roof of the lift, he couldn't help but grin weakly at the sight of the steel cable leading up to the open doors of the shaft.

"I've got to hand it to you, Dominic," he said, wrapping both hands around the cable and starting to pull himself the thick metal rope. "Never thought I'd need to use this."

* * *

Having barely managed to recover in time from the efforts of the attacks, Nahir managed to spin and hit Meredith with a roundhouse kick, forcing her away from where she stood. Hissing in anger, Meredith swung out her arms, trying to scratch away at Nahir's visor.

"That's just low," the yellow ranger groaned, throwing her Storm Staff back behind her to catch Harley in the ribs as he was trying to sneak up from behind her. "Seriously?"

In response to her question, Harley grabbed the weapon out of her hand and tossed it aside before grabbing her by the shoulder, spinning her around and punching her as hard as he could.

"Thought I'd raise the stakes slightly," he spat, seeing her stagger back. "What do you have to say to that? You're unnarmed and outnumbered!"

"No smart ass response?" Meredith asked, sounding disappointed. "Aww, I was expecting you to have one."

"Actually..." Nahir groaned, straightening up. "Here's my punchline! Toxic Armour! Now!"

Instantly, the armour began to appear, the silver helmet combining with the Cobra one, giving it a slight Arbok appearance, while the arms became covered in a silver armour, large blades emerging out from the gauntlets while spikes erupted across the knuckles. Finally, more armour appeared upon the legs, while more spikes emerged across the side and tip of the boots.

"What the...?" Meredith yelled, before Nahir grabbed her by the throat and hurled her against the ceiling. "That's just plain not fair!"

Apparently in agreement, Harley started to run towards Nahir, only for her to swat him back with her newly acquired strength. No sooner had he been thrown back did Meredith come steaming back in, her hatred of Nahir powering her on.

"Calm down!" Nahir shouted, extending out his claws. "Toxic Slash!"

Her claws extending out, they began to drip with a deadly purple poison, something that Meredith failed to acknowledge. Still, the Coppinger carried on her intended attack, determined to hurt Nahir as much as possible.

That was when the yellow ranger moved to dodge, spinning and raking the poison tipped claws across the Coppinger's back and staggering her down to the floor. Upon hitting the wooden floor of the penthouse, Meredith's mutant parts exploded, leaving just the malicious teenage girl passed out at Nahir's feet.

Something that apparently displeased Harley, as the Coppinger rolled his eyes in sarcastic disbelief.

"Really?" he asked, softly. "You just wasted your attack on her. Now, I'm really going to mess you up. Not because you turned her back, but because I want to. You're not going to see it coming when I..."

Completely interrupting him, Luke leaped through the open shaft and flung himself at the Coppinger, bringing up his morpher as he went into a corkscrew kick motion.

"Genesis Overload!"

Giving the shout, he morphed in mid-flight, his purple ranger suit covering his body, just in time to add that power boost to his kick to Harley's stomach, forcing him back.

"Suddenly I'm not so outnumbered," Nahir quipped, morphing out of the Toxic Armour and retrieving her Storm Staff. "Now, what were you saying about messing me up?"

"He said that?" Luke asked, glancing around first at her, then at Harley. "Really?"

"What about it?" the Coppinger snarled, straightening up to his feet. "Why do you care?"

"Guess I'm just like that," the purple ranger replied, levelling his Psycho Spear at Harley. "Now, how hard do you want to make this?"

Roaring in anger at the arrogant comment, Harley began to charge, blind rage overcoming him as he tried to get at the two rangers. Both Luke and Nahir reacted faster, both of them having expected it.

"Spark Strike!"

"Psycho Cut!"

At the twin commands, both weapons came up to crash into the charging Harley, knocking him down onto the ground. Their combined efforts were too much for him to take, causing him to pass out upon contact with the ground. In the same moment, his mutant parts exploded, leaving him human again.

"That's the thing about these Coppingers," Luke said, shrugging his shoulders. "They're all talk and no fight."  
"Seems like a sweeping generalisation," Nahir commented. "You really think Dennis is going to be a pushover like that?"

"It's not like we haven't seen him get his butt kicked before," the purple ranger replied. "Right?"

* * *

"What the...?" Nahir started to ask, as she and Luke came out of the building to find a pair of black SUV's waiting for them, military personnel all lined up on the sidewalk. "Are we in trouble?"

"Possibly not yet," Luke remarked, as one of them broke ranks and came on over, flashing out an ID card.

"Are you the two who have taken down the Coppingers?" he asked, holding the card up higher. "Captain Nathan Harker, I'm with SDI, West sent us on over to take them into custody."

"What?" Nahir asked, shocked by what had just been said. "West? As in Dominic West?"

"The very same," another soldier commented, more of the black uniformed men coming out of the building, Harley and Meredith strapped to stretchers, both Coppingers heavily restrained.

"What's going to happen to them?" Luke wondered, glancing over to the defeated Coppingers, seeing them being loaded into the van already.

"We'll take them into custody," Captain Harker finished, saluting both of them. "The two of you have done a great service for the region here, you and the rest of your friends."

"Now, I'm just really curious," Nahir muttered, under her breath. "Does everyone in SDI know that we're rangers, or..."

"I think we can trust Dominic enough to not reveal more than he think is necessary," Luke re marked. "Then again..."

"Meh, if you can't trust a covert military organisation, who can you trust?"

* * *

"This was the place, right?" Duo asked, as he and Katie walked into the back of the alley in Sycamore City, finding the place that they had been looking for. "The freaky interdimensional jewellery store?"

"If that's the best description you have of it," the red ranger commented, dryly. "Might not want to refer to him as a freak, it might get insulting."

"I don't think I've ever insulted anyone at any point in my life," he replied, quickly. "It's just not in my character."

"Neither is rampant sarcasm," Katie said, dryly as she moved to push the door open. "Let's get this thing over and done with."

Moving into the room, it being exactly the same as the first time they had walked in there, they saw the elegant blue haired man behind the counter, drinking a cup of something.

"Aha," he remarked, straightening up to flick a speck of dust from his grey suit. "Customers. I assume that you have something worthwhile to come here for."

"Nice sales pitch," Duo muttered under his breath. "I'm half convinced to buy something already."

"Chester Biel," Katie said, walking over to the counter. "Long time no see."

"Do I know you?"

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**That's how to fail epically.**

**It's almost over. Only two episodes remain after this one and then it's onto Cosmo Force.**

**Here ends the three pronged day arc. But, if nothing else, this day has proved that the rangers have allies and they are willing to use them.**

**Thanks for the reviews. They are all appreciated.**

**But, yeah, Nikitca is back. And, if your pen name happens to be Blazin' Saddles, that's how it's spelt.**

**The next one is entitled The Overload Of Genesis, and the preview is below. It's not likely to be up before the new year though.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Meredith is going to answer them for this chapter.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Fifty, The Overload Of Genesis, preview.**

**Dennis: We have what we need. Your services are no longer required.**

**Arbok: You're firing me?**

**Bill: There's a pretty huge presence in Holimar City. Readings are high.**

**Katie: What do you want?**

**Arbok: I have a proposal for you.**

**Xavier: Go on.**

**Arbok: I want to be human again, you want the Genesis Book. I can make it happen.**

**

* * *

**

**Coming soon. Happy New Year!**


	50. The Overload Of Genesis

Chapter Fifty. The Overload Of Genesis.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_All across the board, the rangers have fought the Coppingers for supremacy. After Eusine revealed the location of Jake, Fuller, Noland and Harley, Katie revealed her plan to go after them. After a day in Eon City with Duo, the two of them went to Lassana City to hunt down Jake and Hawk. At the same time, Crane and Paige went for Fuller and Copper in Frodomar City., while Xavier and Ryan tracked down Noland and Mitchell in Waterfall Shores. Finally, Luke and Nahir spent a day together and encountered Nikitca who offered the help of the Syodian Rangers if needed. Later, they went after Meredith and Harley and managed to take them down before the two Coppingers were taken into custody by SDI. Later, Duo and Katie arrived at Chester Biel's shop to get the Eclipse Stone repaired..._

_

* * *

_

"Here you go," Biel said, holding out the stone in front of him to run an eye across the surface of the newly repaired item. "One Eclipse Stone as good as it was the day that it was forged. Now, about payment..."

"Ah..." Duo groaned, letting his shoulders sag in disbelief. "Crap, I knew we should have sent Luke over here."

"What year are you from?" Biel asked, glancing at the two rangers. "2010? 2011?"

"About that time," Katie replied, hopefully. "Why?"

"Is fifty dollars still a lot of money in that time period?" the jeweller asked, giving the pair of them suspicious looks, almost as if he was daring them to lie to him.

"It's not a huge amount..." Duo offered. "It's... It's about what you might pay for a watch being repaired depending on how badly broken it is. If the face is cracked and the strap is broken, it might be about that. If you haven't got much money, it's not something that you can really do with spending."

"Call it sixty," Biel said, his suspicious expression vanishing. "And we'll call it even... Excuse me, I'm about to get another customer. I have a feeling that they'll be wanting more than just an Alrugian Hago Box this time..."

Upon the commencement of his words, the door behind them opened up and two figures came walking into the room, neither of them looking like they came from a time or place that the two rangers were going to live in any time soon. Both of them were wearing white uniforms, with two silver stripes across the arms. One of them, the one that startled the two rangers more than anything, looked to resemble a bipedal slender Mightyena with shoulder length gold hair. She also had purple scales below her jaw where the fur hadn't quite grown, scales that looked to move around towards her back. The other figure, unlike his companion, looked human. He was just about taller than the Mightyena figure, with slightly tanned skin. His hair was black with a red coloured fringe. Both of them were wearing a single black glove with a silver rectangle on the roof of the hand, the shine drawing the attention of the two rangers towards it, also noting that the female Mightyena figure was carrying a briefcase.

"Mr. Biel," the male visitor said, walking on over. "How have you been?"

"Terrific," the pan-dimensional jeweller replied, looking first at the new arrivals, then at the departing two rangers, Duo and Katie. "I'm fine, and may I say, what a coincidence."

"About what?" the Mightyena girl asked, sounding surprised. "What aren't you telling us? You better not be holding out on something that you should be letting us know!"

"Man, how strange does the future look," Katie commented, rolling her eyes as the two of them walked out of the store. "I assume that they're not from the past."

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. Crane appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefacts. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Dark Spectres hover above Coppinger mutant monsters._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord, North Wind Megazord and Silent Strike Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

"And, just as I predicted," Lance said, looking at the entrance to the bridge as Katie and Duo walked in, holding hands with each other. "Last to be here."

"We miss much?" Duo wondered, cracking a smile. "Anyone die?"

"It look like anyone died?" Nahir said, shooting him a sarcastic smirk. "Then again, we nearly did get crushed by a falling lift, but that's irrelevant now."

"Go on then!" Bill exclaimed, suddenly looking genuinely excited. "Who has the best stories from their missions? I'm sure we all want to hear them."

* * *

"That it?" Dennis asked, as he watched the Dogbot drop the cloth covered package to the table in front of him. "Is that what I sent you all out to find?"  
Rather than answering him, the robotic creation instead just nodded and began to turn away, moving shakily towards the exit.

"Do you think that it was worth it?" Arbok wondered, striding on over to take a better look. "Giving Eusine the order that in the event he was captured to reveal the locations of the others to the rangers?"

"He seems to have done so," Dennis replied, unconcerned. "We've lost contact with them all, all roughly at the same time which would appear to mean that the rangers hit them at an agreed time. Just as Ortari predicted that that was what they would decide to do. But, the distraction did allow us the time to send a squad of Dogbots out, unnoticed to pick this up."

With that, he pulled the cloth away, revealing an indented silver rectangle, slightly smaller than the Genesis Book he had in his pocket. Across the middle, the indented part, there were eight smaller indents, each large enough to look like they would hold a jewel of some sort.

"Aha," Arbok said, nodding inanely. "Looks... Good. What is it?"

"I believe that this is an artefact of the Genesis Book," Dennis replied, taking the item that he had just mentioned out from where he had secreted it, before laying it on the table. "The Genesis Plate."

As if to emphasise his words, the silver plate began to shimmer slightly in the dim light of the hideout before stopping.

"Nice," the Coppinger scientist remarked, looking down at it. "What do we do next?"

"We do nothing," Dennis replied. "I on the other hand am going to combine these two and see where it takes us."

"What about me?" Arbok asked, quickly. "What do you want me to take care of?"

"Ah, about that..."

"Wait, what? What are you trying to say?" the Coppinger scientist asked, almost going hysterical with the suspense.

"We have what we need," Dennis said, breezily. "Your services are no longer required."

"What?" Arbok asked, suddenly looking terrified. "You're firing me?"

"Firing you, yes," the Coppinger leader replied. "Destroying you, you're lucky that I'm not. Time and time again, you have failed me. You have failed to pull anything even slightly resembling a victory out of your supposedly superior brain-ful of plans, you've done nothing but be insubordinate, sarcastic, unhelpful. Now, get out before I change my mind!"

"Can I at least clean out my desk?"

"You didn't have a desk!"  
"Can I at least have the chance to steal office supplies to make up for the..."

"Out!"

* * *

"Good morning, Forsythia!"

It still felt strange, even though she had said it every time she had checked in on her every other day for the last two human years. Now, it was more out of automatic reaction rather than an actual greeting. Just like she had in the instances of all those other times, the motionless Forsythia did not reply.

"It won't be long now," Ortari continued, again placing her hand on the plastic cover shielding Forsythia from the outside world, the material cool under her touch. "I can sense it. The inevitable is slowly moving towards us, a future that we alone can sense. Judgement will appear out of the invisible and stroke the stomach of that brave new world. Nobody is going to see it coming!"

Following her miniature outburst, she could have sworn she saw Forsythia's eyelid twitch, the Lady of Time almost reacting to the words in a way that she couldn't possibly have done of her own volition.

"You know it, don't you?" she asked, softly. "You know that it's coming. You might be afflicted, but you're not stupid."

Removing her hand and standing up as straight as she could, Ortari turned and moved towards the exit.

If everything went to plan, this would be the last time she came here.

* * *

"That's awesome!" Nahir said, looking over at the red and black rangers. "If a touch cheesy, but... seriously, go on!"  
"Congrats, guys," Xavier continued, reaching over to shake Duo's hand. "Good luck with it all."

"Be honest, mate," Luke laughed, grinning at the black ranger. "You just stole our idea, didn't you?"

"Hey, we've had that tension thing going on a lot longer than you two did," Katie protested. "You're rank amateurs compared with what we've been doing over the last several months."

"I can't believe you're boasting about it," Ryan commented. "Is that even something to... I don't know."

"Well, what about our relationship," Crane said, gesturing first at Paige, then at himself. "It's survived her being dead and my going to the future."

"That's what you'll say shortly before she breaks up with you," Duo remarked, listlessly. "Right?"  
"Hey, don't even joke about it," Paige said, glaring at him. "I was just about to congratulate the both of you as well."

That was when the alarm rang out, interrupting them all.

"Errr... Guys," Bill said, calling them on over. "Hate to break it to you while you're quasi-celebrating, but there's a pretty huge presence in Holimar City. Readings are high. Genesis energy, it's not like when I scanned Nikitca earlier.

Not hesitating, he began to punch some buttons in front of him, the large screen changing to show images of Arbok walking down the road in the middle of one of the streets in the city in question, apparently intent on ignoring the people around him who were running in terror.

"How easy do they want to make it for us?" Xavier commented, rolling his eyes. "Let's go and take him down, we're not going to get another chance like this!"

"Be careful, Rangers," Lance warned, holding a hand up to grab their attention. "Something tells me that this isn't as it seems."

"In theory, this is less dangerous than what we just did," Nahir pointed out. "We're at full strength now."

"The woman has a point," Ryan said. "I'm with Xavier, let's tool up and get him!"

* * *

He would show Dennis. Arbok knew that deep down, he knew that he was going to get his revenge on those that had wronged him. Starting with his former boss, he was going to surprise everyone and show the side of him that had never been seen before.

Hearing the roar of engines above him, his enhanced senses picking them up loud and clear, he waited a moment before turning to see the seven costumed figures running in his direction

"Aha, Rangers!" Arbok said, dusting himself off as he began to look them up and down, his plan fresh in his mind. "Just who I was looking for."

"Save it!" Luke exclaimed. "We're in the mood for taking down Coppingers."

"Come on, what happened to compassion and giving your enemies a break when they're down on their luck?" the former Coppinger scientist asked, quickly. "That's the charitable approach that you should..."

He quickly shut up, suddenly looking terrified as the rangers began to take out their weapons.

"Okay, okay!" he exclaimed, holding both hands up. "I'll get to the point, I have a proposal for you!"

"Propose this," Paige muttered, under her breath.

"I've got a better proposal for you," Ryan commented, stroking his Fauna Hammer. "Lie down and make it quick for us."

"Fine, if you're going to be like that," Arbok said. "Don't accept my offer, it could have made your lives so much easier..."

"Go on, then!" Xavier exclaimed, sounding incredibly frustrated. "Let's hear it. Or are you all talk?"

"I want to be human again," the former Coppinger scientist said, managing to convey even more frustration in his voice than Xavier had. "You want the Genesis Book. I can make it happen."

"What?" Katie asked, surprised. "You're supposed to be a bad guy, you're meant to be trying to steal the artefacts from us."  
"Yeah, Dennis kicked me out," Arbok explained, quickly. "So, I'm thinking of defecting. I can still get in there, into the former hideout. I get in there when he least expects it, I can steal the Genesis Book and bring it to you on the proviso that you use it to turn me human again as soon as you have it."

"Jeez," Duo said, unable to believe what he had just heard. "Seriously?"

"This is not a trick," Arbok replied. "It's a good offer, I'm going to give you time to think about it. I know you don't trust me, but you have to consider whether or not the risk is worth it. I, for one, do."

"You would," Nahir commented, sarcastically. "Because you're clearly not at all biased in this situation."

"Just make sure that you bring all the artefacts then we'll do it together," Arbok said, loftily. "I'm not letting it out of my sight. Hate to say that I don't trust you."

"Ironic," Paige remarked, dryly.

* * *

"Are you sure?" Bill asked. "Are you sure that we can trust him?"

"Not even close," Katie replied, softly. "If I was sure that we could trust him then we wouldn't be having this discussion."

"It's like he said, though," Luke offered. "We don't know if we can trust him and it is a risk to do so. But, is that risk worth taking?"

"No risk is completely worth it," Duo said. "There's always going to some element of danger in there..."

"Yeah, that's why they call it a risk," Lance commented. "This is something that you're going to have to work out for yourselves, you make the choice and Bill and I will support and respect it."

"I'm not making this decision on my own," Katie said, looking around the room. "It's too important for that, so we're going to vote."

"Probably the best idea," Crane remarked, leaning against the wall at the back of the room. "If nothing else, you'll at least reach a conclusion."

* * *

"Hello, Dorlinda."

Stiffening up at the sound of the familiar voice, the Lord of Time immediately began to worry at the situation he was about to find himself in. That was when he turned and saw Ortari leaning against the side of the building.

"You've got a nerve, haven't you?" he demanded. "Following me here."

"I'm only here to talk," she said, holding her hands up as a show of surrender. "All I ask is that you listen to me for a few minutes. Then, when I'm finished, you can try and take me in if you're fast enough."

"You're not my concern, Ortari," Dorlinda answered. "I have no interest in what you're about to say. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just hand you over to Clarence. He's very interested in talking to you."

"I can imagine," Ortari replied, scornfully. "He's losing the plot. Has been for a while, why do you think I rebelled against his rule and went to do what I'm doing?"

"Because you're insane and hungry for power."

"I'm hurt by that," the Lady of Time said, placing a hand on her heart in mock sorrow. "Do you really think that, or are you just gripping the ledge?"

"Got to say that in all the time I've known you, I never suspected that you had it in you," Dorlinda admitted. "Okay, talk. Let's hear it."

"Contrary to popular opinion, aka the one that your rangers hold, the one that Clarence has been feeding them," Ortari replied. "I have no interest in the complete and utter destruction of this planet. It's beautiful. It's our home, has been for a while and probably always will be. Why is that something that I would want to happen?"

He didn't reply, instead just letting her speak.

"We're going to make the world a better place..."

"Aha!" he exclaimed, jabbing a finger towards her. "Here we go. That old schtick. We want to make the planet a better place, so we're going to do something diabolical and fiendish. You can't change the very fabric of existence, even with the Genesis Book."

"What do you actually know about the Genesis Book?" Ortari demanded. "You know absolutely nothing about the way that it works, what it's capable of. On the other hand, I've had the chance to study it, see some of the inner workings of the item."

"That makes you a qualified expert?"  
"It makes me more qualified to make a judgement than you," she retorted. "But, that can change. If you want to know more about it, I could use a second opinion on things. Two brains are better than one. And, if you help me out, I'm sure that when we'll be happy to offer you a place in the upper echelons of our new world."

"Really?" Dorlinda asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "Although, I do have one question."

"Go ahead."

"What makes you think that you're going to win?"

"So, that's a no then?" she asked, folding her arms in disgust. "I'm going to give you fair warning. You reject my offer here and as soon as we take the Genesis Book, you're going to be the first one that we come after."

"That always was your problem, Ortari," Dorlinda remarked, sarcastically. "You think things through too far before you have the means to put them into action. Because..."

With that, he reached into his coat and brought out a silver coloured orb, an item that easily fitted into the palm of his hand.

"... You know what this is?"

"I know," she replied, disdainfully. "But, you're not going to use it."

That was when he heard movement behind him, the Lord of Time turning to see a huge white Ursaring-like figure moving towards him, a roar quickly following the heavy sound of footsteps.

"Meet Murser," Ortari commented, taking a step back. "My insurance policy... Au revoir."

He knew that she had vanished as soon as she finished speaking. Already, Murser was moving towards him, the claws extended out with intent to be used.

"Damn you, Ortari," he muttered, pocketing the Sonic Concussion Burst device that he had intended to use to take her down, before taking the chance to teleport away from here.

* * *

"No freaking way!"

The shout came from Xavier as the seven rangers walked into the alley where Dorlinda had directed them, with the intention of having them deal with Murser. One extremely long discussion on the flight over about whether or not it was pleasant of him to dump random assignments on them with no warning later and they had arrived finally. Only to find something out that they wouldn't have guessed to find if they had each spent the next several weeks trying to work it out.

The being that they had been dragged out off the Silver Gyarados, Murser who had freaked out the Lord of Time who they had become so close to was laid down defeated on the ground.

Standing above him, completely out of breath, was none other than Arbok.

"What's going on?" Nahir asked, surprised. "Did you two have a deal where he'd feign to be dead and you'd look like a hero?"

"Of course not," Arbok panted, taking deep gulps of air. "I was passing by, he was about to violently assault a family. I just did the right thing, he wasn't that tough. You're welcome, I saved you the trouble."

Taking another deep breath, he managed to straighten up and smile at them weakly. It was then that they could see some of the extent of the beating that he had taken in combat with Murser, his face cut and bruised heavily on the side which he had been concealing from them.

"Have you reached a decision on whether you think I'm trustworthy or not yet?"

Stepping forward, Katie nodded her head at him, despite wearing an impassive look under her helmet.

"Meet us here in an hour," she said. "Don't forget to bring the Genesis Book and any other artefacts that you have. We'll make the deal."

At her words, Arbok smiled, throwing them all a salute before almost seeming to melt away into the shadows.

* * *

"I sure hope that you know what you're doing," Luke muttered, watching Bill start the process of removing the artefacts from the safe. "Because, this is probably the biggest risk we've ever taken."

"Bigger than going off nearly a hundred years in the future?" Xavier asked, rhetorically. "Speaking of which..."

That was when Bill tossed him the Natural Gift, the blue ranger placing it down on the table.

"With that though, we might have been going to the future, but we had Celebi and we had Dorlinda," Paige said. "If one of them was unable to help us out in getting back, the other probably would have. I'm actually with Luke, this is one big risk."

"I believe it to be a risk worth taking," Crane said, quickly. "For what it's worth. My opinion that is."

"Natural Gift, check," Bill muttered, ignoring the conversation. "Empath Sapphire, check. Eternal Flame, check. Eclipse Stone and Glace Crystal. Check. Infinite Shard, check. Liquid Platinum, check. Tri-Stone, check. I think that's all of them. That is all of them."

"So, we going to vote on this?" Nahir asked. "Or have we already decided that we're going to make that deal with what could possibly be the devil."

"If anyone can come up with a better plan to try and get the Genesis Book from Dennis, then I'd like to hear it," Katie said, loudly. "Maybe we can end this as quickly and decisively as possible. It's about our only real option, we don't have a clue where Dennis is hiding and for all his talk about wanting revenge, I don't think Arbok is going to offer it up to us."

"What the hell," Duo commented. "What's life without a bit of risk."

"Besides, he might be telling the truth," Xavier pointed out. "I know that we're looking for an alternate motive from him to prove that he isn't trustworthy, but there's a slight chance that he is on the level."

"Only a slight chance," Ryan agreed. "But, I hate to say it, we're supposed to be paragons of justice. If nothing else, we should try and see the good in people."

"That's crap, Ryan," Luke said, shrugging his shoulders. "Some people are just plain bad. That said, he's only one Coppinger. If he does try to double cross us, I think we can probably take him. Easily."

"There is always that option," Xavier commented. "Now that it's been put that way, I'm inclined to go with the let's trust him idea, with option of a beating if it comes down to it."

"So, we're agreed?" Katie asked, looking over at where Bill was slipping the artefacts into a bag. "Terrific, let's get over to the meeting place."

* * *

"Did you bring the stuff?"

The question came from Arbok as he stood up from where he was leaning, a briefcase in his hand.

"Never mind us," Katie replied, quickly. "What about you? You get your part of the swag? The Genesis Book?"

"And the Genesis Plate," the former Coppinger answered. "Thrown in free of charge."

"Was it hard to get hold of?" Luke wondered, shooting him a suspicious look. "Seems like you managed to do it remarkably quickly."

"If you don't trust me, I can turn around and walk the other way," Arbok snapped. "So, what's it going to be?"

"We're going to deal," Nahir said, her words careful in her mouth that she didn't say what she really thought. "That cool with you?"

"It is indeed," Arbok answered, keeping calm. "So, how do you want to do this?"

"How about one of these guys brings the stuff into the middle, you meet them in the centre and then we take it from there?" Duo suggested, shrugging. "I've seen enough gangster films to know to do it that way? Any good?"

"Who do want to come and make the exchange?" Katie asked, nodding across the rangers behind her. "Anyone in particular you want?"

"Hmmmm..." Arbok mused. "Blue ranger. No reason as to why, just a personal choice."

"Go on," Xavier said, reaching over to take the bag of items from Katie. "Why me? Really, I want to know."

"You seem less intimidating than some of the others," the former Coppinger scientist commented, sarcastically. "Your costume is a nice colour. You have a nice voice. I want to try and steal your soul and use it to buy babies on the black market. You want me to continue, because I've got about five hundred more irrelevant reasons to do it?"

"Okay, I'm sold," Xavier muttered, taking the bag from Katie and starting to walk towards Arbok, the package full of artefacts swinging from his hand...

* * *

"We're picking up an incoming transmission," Bill muttered, glancing down at the console in front of him. "Interesting."

Reaching down, he pushed the button below the video screen and let the transmission come out onto the screen. That was when a video image of Nikitca appeared in front of both him and Lance, the presence surprising both of them.

"Greetings," she said, giving them an expression that they assumed to be a Syodian smile. "We've finally managed to crack into your operating transmission frequency."

"What's up, Nikitca?" Bill asked, managing a weak wave at the Deoxys. "Some reason that you're making contact?"

"Alien puns, really?" Lance asked, shaking his head in disbelief. "Come on!"

"Did Nahir relay my message over to you that we're willing to offer our help should you require it," the red Syodian ranger asked, inscrutably. "Because, the seven of us are getting the impression that you are going to need it very soon."

"She did pass that onto us," Bill said, nodding as he spoke. "We're ready to ask for it if it's needed, however we shouldn't. We're just about to take a course of action that should ensure everything ends out okay."

"Really?" Nikitca asked, surprised at his admission. "Are you sure? We're picking up vibes from the planet..."

"You can do that?" Lance wondered, surprised. "Are you sure? Because..."

"Don't question it," the Syodian replied, visibly annoyed by the slight against her mental connection. "When we combine hands and open up our mental power to the universe, we can sense fragments of things from across the galaxy."

"I apologise," the Dragon Master admitted, holding his hands up. "Sorry."

"So, what is the plan of action for the rangers?" Nikitca wondered. "How are they going to take care of things, if it's okay for me to ask?"

"Well, it's going to go a little like this..." Bill started to say.

* * *

No sooner had Xavier crossed halfway through the alley, it happened. The section of wall next to him exploded, the shock wave hurling him off his feet and forcing him to drop the bag containing the artefacts.

Groaning in pain, he rolled onto his side, seeing Dennis stand above him. Before he could react, the huge clawed foot came down on his chest, stopping him from moving.

"Come any closer and I crush him like a Caterpie!" the leader of the Coppingers snarled, looking around at the other rangers who were already taking out their weapons. "I will do it!"

That was when Xavier saw Ortari appear next to him, the Lady of Time reaching down to scoop up the package of Genesis artefacts. Within moments, she had checked they were all there before nodding at Dennis.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Arbok laughed, moving over to join the other two. "Really, it was."

"Good job, Arbok," Ortari said, patting him on the shoulder. "You've done a noble thing here. Stop them from following us?"

"Of course," the Coppinger scientist answered, watching Ortari transfer her hand to Dennis before causing the two of them to teleport away.

No longer restrained, Xavier leaped up from his prone position and kicked Arbok in the side of the head, forcing him back.

Yet, rather than be hurt, the Coppinger scientist seemed rather more intent on laughing it up.

"You shouldn't have trusted me!" Arbok howled, almost overcome with mirth. "I've betrayed you all. The fight with Dennis! It was all a pre-arranged act. What can I say, I'm the world's greatest actor! And right now, Dennis and Ortari are going to revive the true leader of the Coppingers. The world as you know it is over, Rangers! And, it's your own fault! We've won! We've won and there's nothing you can do to change that!"

"No, Arbok!" Katie roared, stepping forward to confront him, despite shaking with clear anger. "You've lost! The world as YOU know it is over! Because, if nothing else, YOU'RE going down!"

Before he could reply with a sarcastic taunt, she threw both arms out and gave the command.

"Hunter Glider!"

As the vehicle in question came swooping down, Katie leaped up into the air to secure herself in. Her morpher glowing with a red light, light that transformed into energy that washed over and across her, soon metamorphising into flames. Flames that quickly faded away, as the transformation began. The red energy at her morpher spreading out across her body, she momentarily transformed into a living rendition of a Charizard. Similar to the way that she did when morphing into her Zord form, it only lasted for a second before she returned back to ranger form. Only with some new armour visible, the Charizard's head remaining, her helmet within its mouth with the rest of the face surrounding it. The wings of the Hunter Glider became part of her body, taking on the constitution of Charizard wings. Under her suit, her muscles grew larger, while a cream coloured oval formed on her stomach. Across her chest, a metallic silver band came across, while her gloves and boots hardened and grew claws at the end. The claws on her gloves extended out over her fingers as she landed and took a fighting stance.

"Red Hunter Ranger!"

"Oh, I'm shaking," Arbok laughed, walking over towards her. As he made the move, she flapped her wings and rushed through the air towards him, extending out her claws to attack.

"Hunter Slash!"

Responding to her command, the claws came up and across, raking Arbok's body to cause a huge amount of damage to him. However, just like when Xavier had attacked him earlier, he didn't seem to be too badly hurt by the blows.

"That the best you got?" he demanded. "Pity you're not like that other red ranger. With the anger that you're feeling now... I wouldn't like to be me if that was the case. Face it, I fed you hook, line and sinker! I'll await my academy award at some point!"

"You're not getting an award," Katie growled, her visor starting to glow. "Hunter Beam!"

"Man, she's pretty pissed off," Duo commented, watching the multicoloured beam shoot out from her visor and crash into Arbok's midriff, finally sending the Coppinger scientist to his knees. "Pentasis Blaster anyone? Just so he can appreciate how annoyed we all are with him?"

"Sounds like a plan," Paige commented, nodding her head. At that point, the six rangers started to put their weapons together, creating the blaster. Upon the point of completion, Paige morphed into her Ice Ball form and became the attachment at the end.

"Penta-Blizzard Blaster!" Duo shouted, looking over at where Katie was hitting Arbok with another claw attack. "Get clear!"

In response to his shout, the red ranger leaped clear...

... As Duo pulled the trigger and sent the beam of powerful white energy bursting through the air towards Arbok, the blast hitting him in the stomach and throwing him back across the alley. Groaning in pain as he hit the ground, his mutant parts exploded, leaving him back in his human form. Unlike most of the other Coppingers they had faced, he hadn't ended up unconscious after the reverse transformation. Seemingly unaffected by the trauma, he was able to get to his feet, and would have fled had Katie not flown after him and knocked him out with a kick to the face.

"I'm getting the urge to kick him again," she remarked, the anger and disgust still audible in her voice as she watched him slump down unconscious. "Better get SDI up here to take him in as quickly as possible before I do."

"There's a Donphan in the room..." Luke said, dryly looking down at the fallen Coppinger with much of the same emotion that they were feeling towards him. "... Who wants to say it first?"

"We're so screwed!" Paige exclaimed, throwing her hands up in disgust. "Right now, they have a completed Genesis Book and we have no idea what they're going to do with."

"Give it time, I think we might find out," Duo said, trying to make the quip to lighten the mood. Yet, he didn't really sound like his heart was in it. "When the fire and brimstone starts to come down out of the sky."

"That might be the best case scenario," Ryan muttered, dryly. "There's always a lot worse than that."

* * *

"We have it!"

Almost breathing the words, Ortari reached out to take the Genesis Book from Dennis, holding the bag of artefacts that they had stolen from the rangers in her other.

"You know how to assemble it?" Dennis wondered, his eyes heavily focused on the Lady of Time as she began to tip out the contents from the brown bag, the items starting to glow as they came into proximity with the Genesis Book.

"It would appear so," she said, dryly. "Typical construct, there's always..."

Letting her words hang, she cupped both hands out to scoop up the artefacts, barely managing to hold them all, the Empath Sapphire almost tipping back out onto the table before she tilted it back into a less precarious position. Then, with as much care as was possible with the nature of her action, she tossed them up into the air, watching them all fall down into position across the surface of the Genesis Book.

"... A simple way of doing these things," she finished, feeling the invisible wave of power rush through the air around her. "Can you feel that?"

"I feel something..." Dennis remarked, his eyes growing wider by the second. "Now, how are we going to to use this the best?"

"In order to maximise the full potential of it, it needs to be anchored," Ortari replied. "I already have a place to do that, but it can be used sparingly. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have something to do, we both know what it is."

"You're going to wake her up?" the Coppinger leader asked, raising an eyebrow. "I know that she was the reason that we did all of this, but now that we have it... Really?"

"I'm going to ignore your feeble attempt at mutiny," Ortari said, taking up the completed Genesis Book. "And, I won't mention it to her, it probably wouldn't be appreciated."

That was when she vanished away into thin air, leaving Dennis alone in the room, silently fuming at the way that it had just gone.

* * *

She had been wrong. The previous time that she had been here in this room wasn't the final time, but barring something catastrophic, this would be the final time. This time, she meant it.

Moving on over towards the comatose Forsythia, she still held the Genesis Book under her arm, her other arm moving up to rip away the thin plastic covers across Forsythia's body with little hesitation. Pulling up the limp hand that lay at the coma victim's side, Ortari placed the palm against the cover of the book, a crackle of golden light erupting out from the item to immediately reanimate her within a split second of contact.

The first sound that Ortari heard was Forsythia letting out a huge gasp for breath, her sudden revival throwing the pattern of breathing she had been taking out of kilter.

"Welcome back," the Lady of Time said, patting her friend on the shoulder. "It's been a long time, Forsythia. How are you feeling?"

Rather than answer, Forsythia sat up on the bed and looked at her hands, blinking several times to try and recover some sort of focus.

"I've been better," she eventually said, looking at the Genesis Book in Ortari's hands. "Although... You have something for me?"  
"One Genesis Book," the other Lady of Time replied, quickly. "Fully functional and operational, just as you requested."

"Excellent," Forsythia answered, taking the item from her and placing her fingers against the two sides of the cover. "Did you have much trouble acquiring it?"

"There were some obstacles," Ortari admitted. "Obstacles that still need to be removed. Of course, when you start to channel the power of that item, that won't be a problem."

"You have an anchor for it?"

"Of course," Ortari answered. "I can take you to it right now. If you feel that you are up to it."

"I may be slightly frail as dictates the normal procedure from entering a mystical manufactured coma," Forsythia answered. "But that is not an impediment to my powers. However, a boost might be nice..."

Ripping the Genesis Book wide open, a stream of golden light erupted out over her, completely engulfing her from sight. All Ortari could do was listen, listen to the sound of her manic laughter...

* * *

**Author's Notes.**

**... Eep.**

**Actually, harking back to the start of the chapter, there's a clever joke there. I might explain it at some point, but it's something to do with ranger colours... Actually, that's more or less it. **

**Anyway, the words aren't actually there, but suffice to say, To Be Continued is in order.**

**This isn't going to end well. It's going to be horrible and nasty, especially for the characters.**

**Thanks for the reviews, they are all appreciated.**

**One left, the finale being next episode. It's entitled Welcome To My World and there is the return of some familiar faces.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review! Forsythia is going to be answering to them for this chapter, so... for the first and penultimate time, ask away.**

**Chapter Fifty One, Welcome To My World, coming soon.**


	51. Welcome To My World

Chapter Fifty One. Welcome To My World.

* * *

_Previously On Poké Rangers Genesis Overload..._

_After the trials of both the G-Force and the SDI Rangers, they were brought back together to fight the Coppingers as the new Genesis Rangers. Across the board, they fought the Coppingers in a race to gather up the ten artefacts of the Genesis Book, a device that could rewrite the fabric of reality. After reaching a certain point and defeating most of the Coppingers, Dennis, the Coppinger leader apparently sacked Arbok from the organisation, forcing him to try and make a deal with the rangers. After they saw him defeat a monster, the rangers decided to trust him, only for him to turn on them and allow Dennis and Ortari to revive Forsythia, the true leader of the Coppingers and a Lady of Time..._

_

* * *

_

"I'm going to tell you a story. A tale full of bravery, love gone wrong and sacrifice. Because, it's my experience that those elements are what make the greatest stories. It started with a clan of nomads the best part of fifty thousand years ago. The Traore, I'm not going to say that I look back on them with a heavy romantic view, but they were my people. I cared for them in ways that I still can't describe after all these years. Back then, I would gladly have laid my own life down for them. They just wanted a better life, which was why our leader made a deal with what we considered a God at the time. At first, we thought that the granted immortality was a gift. Now, after all these years, I'm more inclined to think of it as a curse. The longer you live, the greater the fear of that inevitable death becomes. I've seen brave men and women crumble under that fear when they hear that the end is near. However, I for one do not fear the end. I say that in the solemn belief that we all have to go at some point. Many don't share my view, come my end I like to think that I will stick to it. But, more than that, this is the story of the final battle of seven courageous youths. Seven youths who faced more danger in the last two years than virtually anyone ever will in their life. They have carried the burden of protection, something only a select few can identify with. But, that burden is nearly over. One way or another..."

Letting it hang, Dorlinda settled back in his chair, his heart heavy. Shutting the camera off, the Lord of Time let out a deep sigh, wondering how right he would turn out to be. Deep down, he realised that he was spot on with the prediction, much to his dismay.

The end was near...

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_Season logo appears. The seven element symbols appear._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear. Peace occurs throughout._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_G-Force rangers face Regli. SDI rangers face Queen Misteria._

**They will always save the day.**

_Katie flips through the air, firing Heat Blasters. Other rangers pose with weapons._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Overload Megazord falls through the air, battling Garbot._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_Rangers fall to the ground, old costumes vanish away. Dogbots celebrate their victory._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_The Coppinger logo appears on the horizon. Shadows fall across the land._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Lance appears with his Dragonite. Bill and the Silver Gyarados appears behind him._

**It's time to battle...**

_All seven rangers pose, the outline of the Coppingers glaring down at them._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Xavier picks up the Water Stone. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Ryan picks up the Leaf Stone. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Nahir picks up the Thunder Stone. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Katie picks up the Fire Stone. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Duo picks up the Dusk Stone. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI. _

**Poké Rangers!**

_Luke picks up the Sun Shard. Luke Sunderland, Purple Genesis Ranger._ _Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Genesis Overload!**

_Paige holds up the NeverMeltIce. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The seven rangers morph. Crane appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_The Hover Chasers carry the rangers into battle. Explosions occur behind them._

**Verger needs you!**

_Mal and Tim look around, inanely. Before being chased by Golbat._

**To fight that evil!**

_Dennis, Arbok and other enemies appear. Dennis holds the Genesis Book up high._

**And save the day!**

_Rangers search for artefacts. Dorlinda appears._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Katie transforms into her Battlizer._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Dark Spectres hover above Coppinger mutant monsters._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_The Overload Megazord, North Wind Megazord and Silent Strike Megazord appear._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppinger Aerial Platform crashes to the ground and explodes._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Camera pans out to show the rangers relaxing on the Silver Gyarados. Dorlinda watches over them._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

**Special Guest Stars.**

**Danielle Tanner: Yellow SDI Ranger: Created by Joseph Winter.**

**Mitzi Arnold: Green G-Force Ranger: Created by Jeanne Reveur.**

**Scott Devaney: Silver G-Force Ranger: Created by Blue Bongo.**

**Chip Larsen: Yellow G-Force Ranger: Created by Sage Monarch.**

**Andrew Bristow: Gold SDI Ranger: Created by Blue Bongo.**

**

* * *

**

Three Days Later...

* * *

The screams rang out through the middle of Lassana City, quickly silenced by the brutal roar of flames. Anyone close by might have smelled the roasted flesh, the acrid smell strong enough in the air to turn the stomach of a Snorlax.

Completely out of nowhere, three beams of light fell out of the sky, one green, one yellow and one silver. Hitting the ground, the beams rematerialised into the form of three different people. Only one of them was female, she had pale coloured skin, ginger hair and blue eyes, while wearing a green sweater, along with a pair of white pants and a pair of green sneakers. Of her two companions, one of them had messy dark brown hair and grey eyes while wearing a white polo shirt, brown pants, white shoes and a yellow waistcoat. Finally, the last member of the trio had silver hair and blue eyes, and also wore a silver shirt open at the collar, as well as blue jeans and some white sneakers.

"What the hell happened there?" the silver haired man asked, picking himself up. "That's not right?"

"You think, Scott?" the brown haired man wondered, dusting himself off. "It's not even close to being right."

"Are you guys going to start fighting, or are we going to work out why we suddenly ended up here?" the ginger haired woman muttered, giving them both stern looks. "Seems that the teleportation system sparked out while we were using it."

That was when they were interrupted, five huge Doombots bursting out onto the scene from cover around them. Before the three could react, they were already surrounded, the metallic creations glaring at them.

"Aww, crap!" Chip muttered, putting his hands up. "Anyone else want to surrender?"

"Don't think it's going to work," Mitzi said, glancing around the scene. Already, the Doombots were starting to charge up their Flamethrowers, eager to incinerate them into ash. "Scott, honey."  
"Yeah..."

"Duck!"

Completely out of the blue, a shimmering orb of white light shot through the air and smashed into the chest of one of the Doombots, knocking it down onto the ground. Even as their comrade went down, the others turned to see what was going on, only to be taken down by a Trident and a Hammer. With two more of them going down, Scott rushed over to one of the remaining ones and kicked it in the face with a powerful roundhouse, knocking the head completely off, all while Chip and Mitzi went to contend with the final one.

As soon as it was down, the three former G-Force rangers turned to see Xavier, Ryan and Paige, all in their ranger suits ahead of them.

"Hey, guys!" Paige said, smiling under her helmet. "Long time no see. How've you been?"

* * *

The trees were on fire around them. Yet still, the two rangers kept on running through them, determined not to stop for even a second. The settlement was up ahead of them, almost trying to call them towards it.

"Man, what's so important about this place?" Duo gasped, realising that somehow, Luke seemed to be running faster than he remembered the purple ranger being able to. "Come on, spill!"

That was when they arrived, the sight of the Dogbots an immediate warning that they had done so. All around them...

"Holy crap!" the black ranger exclaimed. "Is this what...?"

Interrupted, he realised a Doombot was about to unleash an attack at him from the flank, forcing him to duck. Bringing out the Shadow Sabre, he swung out twice, dismembering it with complete ease. Around him, the Altaria PokéMorphs were all either trying to fight or flee, their night having clearly been disturbed by the raiding party of Coppinger soldiers

"I'm sure these things are getting easier to stop," he said, kicking the parts away from where he was stood, watching the head crash into a tree. "But, back on the other thing! What's going...?"

"Vultori!" Luke shouted, apparently recognising one of the beings. "Are you okay?"

He didn't hesitate, running over to pull a Dogbot away from the leader, the robotic creation turning to snap at him in response. Before it could bite him, the purple ranger kicked it twice and rammed his Psycho Spear through it.

"Have we met?" the leader of the PokéMorphs asked, puzzled. His bemusement lasted a moment before he brought out his sword and decapitated another Dogbot. "Because..."

"I'll explain later when we're not fighting murderous robots," Luke said. "Just trust me!"

"My daughter!" Vultori exclaimed. "My wife! They're here somewhere."  
"I'll find them," Luke said. "Just, try not to die!"

"That wasn't my plan."

* * *

He had found them sheltering in a tree, trying to keep themselves safe from the fire attacks of the Dogbots, the two of them having been outnumbered ten to two and looking to have chosen escape as the better option. Despite their ability to shoot fire, their targeting systems had been interrupted by something, rendering the accuracy less than perfect. It was that which allowed Luke to reach them in time, the purple ranger easily defeating the majority of them, before another one of the PokéMorphs came rushing on over to help with the final one. Turning around in surprise as the sound of metal clashed against metal, Luke immediately recognised this one.

"Alzor," he muttered, reluctantly remembering the way that Vultori's son had reacted to him in the past. "Long time no see."

Rather than reply, Alzor turned away and went back to the process of dismantling Dogbots. Not that there were many left, Duo had slowly been working his way through them in the time that Luke had spent looking for Vultori's family. Virtually all of the Coppinger soldiers had been wiped out, the arrival of the two rangers had been enough to help turn the tide in the favour of the inhabitants of the makeshift village.

* * *

"Ah, so you appear twice when we need you most," Vultori remarked, looking across at Luke with a grateful expression. "We sang songs of you. Our saviour."

"Now I've heard it all," Duo commented, at the back of the small cabin, the black ranger leaning against the wall, his arms folded. "How did you end up as the most important human in this place?"

"Complete and sheer luck," the purple ranger admitted. "It was about a year ago, I was out for a fly in one of my old Zords, when I heard singing..."

"Yes yes, ignore that," Alzor interrupted. "What are these things? Why do they attack us?"

"Because, they're trying to take over the entire region," Luke replied. "They've got the capabilities, they're just trying to do it slowly for some reason."

"We think it's to annoy us," Duo replied. "Break our spirit, our resolve, call it what you like. I can't see any other reason for it."

"We're trying to stop them, they've been attacking the region throughout the last three days," Luke continued. "But, we're outnumbered and it's just a matter of time until they get completely lucky."  
"I see," Vultori said, stroking his chin in bemusement. "This is indeed a problem for you. A very big problem."

"You're not telling us anything we don't already know," the black ranger remarked, dryly. "But..."

"If you need us," Vultori interrupted. "We will be happy to help you out in the oncoming battles. We are few in numbers, but our warriors are highly trained and our weapons sharp. These things violated our home, our books teach of an eye for an eye, a beak for a beak, a feather for a wing."

"The first two times, take revenge in equal measure," Swalia offered. "The third time, give it back in a way they won't recover."

"You always find help in the most unlikely places," Luke said. "That wasn't what we came here for. I heard that you were in trouble, that was the..."

"Yet, we are willing to give to you that help you do not seek," Alzor interrupted, surprising the purple ranger. "Of all the humans, I distrust you the least. You're the only reason that I will go along with this wholeheartedly. Because it's time that we pay you back for your help in our time of need."

* * *

"That was interesting," Danni commented, looking across at the door as Luke and Duo came walking back in. "Never saw either of you as the type to run off at a moment's notice. Except, when it's really important to you and nobody else..."  
"I get the feeling that that's directed at me," Duo replied, dryly. "Guess you won't want to hear that we found some new allies then."

"New allies?" Dorlinda asked, looking over. "Really? Where?"

"Let me guess," Nahir said. "The Altaria PokéMorphs. I had a feeling that was where you ran off to, it was the only reason that you would react like that when we saw the attack in that area."

"Want to explain?" Crane said, glancing at the black, purple and yellow rangers. "Because, I don't quite follow."

"Let us take council first," Bill interrupted. "With Dorlinda's help, we've managed to gather our allies in one place. We're meeting downstairs in five minutes, we were just up here waiting for you to return."

* * *

"We're not doing too badly, huh?" Luke asked, as the group walked into the room, the one that he had previously pegged as the largest room on the Silver Gyarados. "For allies that is."

Within the room, the dishevelled tables all moved out to the edges, were the remaining Genesis rangers, Katie, Xavier, Ryan and Paige. Chip, Mitzi, Scott and Andrew were all there, as were the Syodian Rangers, Nikitca, Elphock, Garris, Valteria, Herinko, Cerina and Zhirko. As well as those, Dominic had shown up as well as Miranda and Commander Bristow, all representing SDI, and Lance had been mingling through the crowds as well.

"Dorlinda," Danni said, glancing around at the Lord of Time. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"What happened to Errol?" the yellow SDI ranger asked, her morpher on a cord around her neck. "Seems like forever since we saw him."

"I wasn't able to track him down," Dorlinda admitted. "But, he's still alive. I can confirm that. Unfortunately, he's unable to make it, he's currently having a legal dispute in the twenty seventh century about whether or not he unintentionally reintroduced the common cold."

"The common cold will have died out in the twenty seventh century?" Miranda asked, surprised.

"It'll have been all but wiped out by the twenty second century," the Lord of Time replied, shrugging. "Not that it matters. Down to business."

* * *

The fresh air was a change. Sure, it probably wasn't that fresh for most people, considering the smoke and the burning smell of destruction that lingered within it, but, as Forsythia remembered that she'd spent the last several years in a coma, she wasn't going to complain about anything that didn't smell like the room Ortari had left her to inhabit for all that time.

Being able to move again was also good, she hadn't realised how much she had missed it until she actually got out to walk the streets in the darkness. One feeling that she particularly enjoyed was the way her dress swept against her legs, the sensation one of the better ones since she had recovered. But, mingling with the crowds, feeling that special sense that she out of them all was differently unique was probably gone for good.

"It's so different, isn't it?"

Already, she could feel the energy crackling away under her skin, preparing to be directed towards the speaker if he turned out to be a threat. Turning, she saw Clarence stood, leaning against a street light, his arms folded.

"Things change much since you were last active?" he asked, his voice neutral, despite everything that she had put into motion, he was remaining civilised.

"You tell me," she replied, offering him the same pleasure. "You're the one who was awake for it."

"About that..." he started to say, getting up from his relaxed position. "You understand, don't you?"

"Completely," she replied. "Too bad that it didn't work and Ortari betrayed you."

"The one thing that I couldn't account for," the Conduit answered. "You put her up to it, didn't you?"

"Afraid that I did," Forsythia replied, lightly. "You want to know where she is? I imagine that there's some sort of higher score to settle with her."

"What are you going to do with this world?" he asked, still calm. "If I may ask."

"Thought that I'd work out some of the kinks in its design," Forsythia said, looking down at the road beneath her feet. "Create a new world order, become ruler, never die. That sort of thing."

"And, I don't suppose that if I asked you not to do it, you would reconsider," Clarence continued, putting his hands in his pockets. "Any particular reason that you're trying to dismantle Verger?"

"That's mainly what Ortari and Dennis want," his granddaughter answered, shrugging. "I'm just indulging them in the knowledge that we can rebuild. Mainly before I get rid of them."  
"So that's something you're thinking of doing?"  
"It's something that I intend to do once things are up and running," she replied. "Ortari... Well, she betrayed you, I'm not going to trust her. Once this conversation is over, I'm telling you where she is, she's your problem. And Dennis... Well, he was good for reaching this point, but I don't think he's going to be a reliable option in the long term. Currently, I've got him guarding the Genesis Book, which I have a feeling that I'm going to regret. Plus, he's human..."

Her words started to tail off for a moment, as the Lady of Time stared up at the sky, her focus drawn by the moon.

"At least that's still there," she muttered. "At this point, anyway."  
"Someone tries to steal the moon in the distant future," Clarence said. "Some lunar-tic."

That made her laugh slightly, the bad joke reminding her of the times in the past when she had been younger and he had told her stories.

"You ever wish that you hadn't made that deal with Dialga?" she suddenly asked. "Wish that we'd never became what we are?"

"Honestly?" he replied, answering with another question. "I wouldn't change a thing."

"If you did, we wouldn't be having this conversation," his granddaughter pointed out. "So... Ortari's location. Let me see... She should currently be..."

Listening to her try to remember, Clarence couldn't help but tap his foot impatiently, waiting for the answer. And, as she finally spoke up to reveal where the traitorous Lady of Time was hiding, he was gone in a flash, leaving Forsythia alone in the abandoned streets of Waterfall Shores.

* * *

"Guys, we've got another Dogbot attack!"

The shout came out from Bill as he walked into the large room within the Silver Gyarados to give them the warning.

"Another one?" Scott asked, surprised. "Then again, I suppose if you have an army of robots, the wicked don't need rest."

"Any volunteers who want to get down there and stop them?" Katie wondered, looking around the group. "Anyone?"

"What the hey," Crane said, shrugging his shoulders as he stood up straight. "I'll do it. Need some exercise, might as well get it now."

"I'll go with him," Andrew offered, raising up a hand. "It's been way too long since I got a decent fight in."

"Requesting permission to head off and battle," Elphock, the blue Syodian Ranger piped up, looking over at Nikitca. "I have that urge."

"Granted," Nikitca replied, not looking up from her meditation. "You can teleport them over there."

"If you want some Genesis representation, I could come," Nahir suggested, getting up. "I'm not doing anything."

"Don't strain yourself," Mitzi quipped. "See you when you get back."

* * *

"I'm sure that these things were tougher last time we faced them," Andrew commented, as began to pull his Dragon Staff out of the remains of one of the trashed Dogbots. "Before, they were impossible."

"If either Luke or Duo were here, they'd probably make a joke about the awesomeness of the Genesis powers rubbing off on you," Nahir quipped. "Of course, none of us would do any such thing."

"I might," Elphock admitted, watching his blue coloured Syodian Sword transform back into its regular form after the battle. "If you hadn't mentioned it, I'd probably have made that quip."

"I'm sure that everyone else finds the telepathy thing still very annoying," Crane said, sagely. At which point, both Nahir and Andrew looked at each other, the yellow ranger starting to laugh.

"Remember how annoying it was when you had the empathic abilities?" Nahir asked. "This is the universe evening things out."

"Well, you couldn't get a more appropriate metaphor for the universe biting back than a Syodian," Crane laughed, patting Elphock on the back. "No offence, Jraeger."

"You speak Syodian?" Elphock immediately asked, straightening up. "Really?"

"Just a few words," the red G-Force admitted, shrugging his shoulders. "I can order a drink, ask where the bathroom is and call people either buddy or love depending on gender."

"In other words, everything that you need to get by?" Nahir asked, before the three of them heard applause from behind them, Elphock immediately grimacing under his helmet.

"I'm not getting anything," he said, turning around to see a brown haired woman wearing a purple dress walking towards them. "Crusk, how many humans are there on this planet who have unreadable thoughts?"

"Congratulations on your victory," the woman said, her applause dying down. "Most impressive..."

"Andrew," Paige whispered, the gold ranger stiffening up as she called his name. "She looks familiar? Can you place her?"

"I know the feeling," he replied. "I do have the sense that I've seen her before, but..."

"You, I know," she said, smiling over at him. "I really have to hand it to you. Who would have thought that two of the humans who helped make me what I am today are here in the flesh destroying my Dogbots..."

"Your Dogbots?" Crane interrupted, the woman glaring at him as she was cut off. "Who are you?"

"Tell you what," she said, her voice musical with malice. "It's been a while since I had a decent work out. I'm just dying for such, and the fact that you're destroying my property will make it more enjoyable. If you can land a hit on me, I'll tell you my name."

For that split second, she actually saw the four rangers consider it, work out the positives and negatives in that time, before Elphock morphed into his Speed Forme and raced towards her, faster than the human eye would be able to follow.

She saw it. And tensing her legs, letting the power from the book flow through her, the energy having unlocked abilities she could possibly have had before, she leaped up over him. Easily clearing the Syodian Ranger, she landed gracefully behind him and kicked him in the back, throwing him to the ground.

"Crap!" Andrew exclaimed, he and the other two rangers looking at each other. "Anyone else got any plans?"

"Nah, I was purely on the rushing in blind side," Nahir said, sarcastically. "How about we surround her and try to flank her?"

"Seems sound," Crane quickly replied. "Let's go!"

Putting Nahir's plan into action, the three of them brought out their weapons and began to surround the woman, their opponent watching them with bemusement. As Crane came in with his Rapidash Horn Sabre, she ducked the first strike and punched him in the stomach, causing him to double over in pain. She would have finished him off there and then, had two staffs not tried to hit her in the face. Throwing her hands up, she caught them both, one in each hand, before flipping up to kick Crane in the face, throwing him back. As soon as she landed, she yanked the Storm and Dragon Staffs away from their owners, managing to drag Nahir and Andrew down with them. As the gold SDI Ranger recovered to try and punch her, she calmly evaded his blow and kicked him in the side of the head, knocking him to the ground. Turning, she saw Nahir try to recover and get up, only to be halted as she cracked both Staff's into her upper body, knocking her to her back on the ground.

"Not impressive," she said, sarcastically. "Looks like I'm keeping my name to..."

"Thanks for that," Andrew groaned, pretty sure that he was badly bleeding under his helmet. "Now I remember... I remember where I've seen you before."

"That's great," Nahir muttered, her voice caked with pain. "That's convenient. Need to hit you in the head more oft..."

"Fo... Forsythia!" the gold ranger exclaimed, managing to raise his hand and point a finger at the Lady of Time. "That's where..."

"So, you know," Forsythia shrugged. "Not that it matters. Not that any of it matters."

"Thought that you were dead," Crane said, using his Horn Sabre as a crutch to try and get up off the ground. "Because..."

"Ah, that mystery," the Lady of Time laughed, rubbing her hands together. "Nice to see that people remember me."

"What is she talking about?" Elphock asked, having finally managed to recover consciousness. "I don't understan... Now I sort of do. Thanks Nahir."

Ignoring him and his admission that he had just read her thoughts to gain a better understanding of the situation, the yellow ranger instead focused on the Lady of Time and what she was about to say.

"I knew I would die!" Forsythia announced, glaring around at the four of them. "I knew that my time was going to come to an end. So, I faked my death. I let everyone who loved me think I was dead so I could prepare this new world. I had heard of the Genesis Book, a whisper of this item of unmentionable power. And, I sought to find it. I recruited these humans, these Coppingers that would use their greedy morals to gain it."

She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath of cold air before turning away. She wasn't too worried that they were going to make a quick escape, not in the condition that they were in after the brief battle with her.

"Of course, I wasn't alone. Ortari helped me. She and I were friends in a past life. She discovered I was alive... The bitch traded the information to Clarence in exchange for a second shot of her own life. That's how he discovered what I was planning, how I intended to cheat death. Well, he couldn't have that, could he? In human terms, he would be my grandfather. He struck me down, locked me into a coma where I wouldn't be able to complete my task. Yet, his mistake was to bring Ortari back to life. She regretted what she had done, now she had knowledge of the challenges that lay ahead. Maybe Clarence expected Dennis and the other Coppingers to move on and forget about the task without my input, yet Ortari pushed them back on course. She ensured that my body stayed alive, even though I was brain dead. She's the real reason that I was here."

That was when she heard the muted sound, too quiet for normal ears to pick up. Not only could she hear his entrance and exit, but she could sense him as well. Even after all these years since she had last seen him, he was still wearing the same aftershave.

Dorlinda!

When she turned back, the four rangers were completely gone from the area, leaving her alone.

"Lucky," she muttered. "Nice to see you again, lover!"

* * *

"Do you know who that was?" Dorlinda asked, his face completely pale as he and the four rangers reappeared on the deck of the Silver Gyarados. "Do you?"

"Was that really...?" Nahir started to ask, before she was interrupted by the Lord of Time letting out a frenzied roar of anger. Moving out, he kicked one of the deck chairs up into the air, before moving over to the stairs and starting to beat the metal steps with his bare hands.

"... Forsythia..." the yellow ranger finished, softly. "The love of his life. Guess it's a kick in the gut."

"Or something about eighty times stronger," Crane mused, taking a step forward. "Are you..."

Rather than reply, Dorlinda let out an angered scream and hit the wall in fury, repeatedly striking it as hard as he could in sheer outrage.

"Or not," the red G-Force ranger said, moving back again.

* * *

"Forsythia?" Bill asked, looking around in surprise. "Are you sure?"

He paused for a moment, biting his lip before speaking out again, this time sounding more confused.

"Who actually is Forsythia?"

"Forsythia is a Lady of Time."

The answer came from the familiar voice of Clarence, as the Conduit came into view, moving out of the shadows. Nobody had any idea how long he had been there, yet very few of them were surprised, barring the people who didn't know about him. Even the Syodian Rangers had apparently not noticed him, even as he started to speak again, Nikitca looked like she was trying to work out how she couldn't hear his thoughts.

"And, ignoring any questions that you may have, she's also my granddaughter," he continued. "Everything that she said was true, I hate to say. She became petrified of death and began to seek a way to amend that. And, I also hate to say that is what she wanted the Genesis Book for. Thanks to the way that the seven of you screwed up with it, she now has it."

"Is it even worth apologising?" Katie asked. "Because, I don't think we can. All we can do is try and make things right, we've been trying to stop them from totalling the region but their armies seem to have no limit."

"We're thinking that the Genesis Book might have been used to create more of the things," Ryan offered. "Especially since Noland and Arbok are both in jail, they were their technical experts. I don't know if they have anyone else who might be able to do that, recreate that many Dogbots in that space of time."

"Then, I think that you might have to remove the Genesis Book from her possession," Clarence said, sagely. "I happen to know where she's keeping it, where it's being anchored. If one of you went there, you could possibly take it back."

"I think I speak for all of us when I say the following things," Andrew remarked. "One, why don't you get it yourself. Two, why only one of us going there. Three, are you going to tell us where it is? Four, what's the catch."

"Mr. Bristow," Clarence replied. "I cannot interfere with this..."

He saw Duo open his mouth to speak, quickly moving to cut the black ranger off in his prime.

"Not heavily," he added. "Random bits of information, I can give you those. I can point you in the right direction from time to time, these are the rules that I've been working to. Even giving you the power to fight this wasn't actively helping you out, they were the reward for completing a test. I've been backing you to win, I've wanted you to gather the Genesis Book before the Coppingers do, but I can't actively do anything major to help you. I can't, for example, smite Forsythia or drag the Genesis Book of the anchor. What I can do is send one of you to the location, where there is someone guarding it. In one on one combat, anything can happen, it is an even fight. If the guardian destroys whoever goes there, then it would be the same as whoever goes there stopping the guardian."

"Got to say," Chip commented. "That's one heck of a mouthful, and it sorta makes sense in a crazy way."

"So, you can get me in there?" Katie asked, standing up. "Great."

"Wait a second," Duo interrupted. "What makes you assume that you're the one going?"

"Err... because I'm going to pull rank on you and insist on it," she replied, hearing Danni let out a snicker in the background. "Plus, it's kinda my fault, so..."

"Hey, we all agreed with you that it was a risk to trust Arbok, but that it was a risk worth taking," Xavier said. "If anything, I was the one who dropped the bag..."

"Only because something exploded near you," Nahir pointed out. "It's hardly your fault that you were spooked out by that."

"I can also offer you the bit of information that my traitorous granddaughter is currently mobilising the mass of her forces to take Holimar City," Clarence said, softly. "Over ten thousand Dogbots will be marching on that city very shortly."

"That's where you guys need to be," Katie remarked, sounding exhausted within her voice. "You're going to have to try and stall them there. Maybe I can bring back the Genesis Book and even out the forces."

"Yeah, about that..." Clarence said, suddenly looking shifty. "I really hate to point this out right now, but..."

"Oh joy, here we go," Scott remarked.

"There's a biological lock on the Genesis Book," the Conduit explained. "Whenever it gets used as much as it has been by her, only someone or something of the same species can unlock it to try and undo it. Since she's a Lady of Time, you need someone of the same species to reverse the damage fully. However, those of you that have the Genesis powers will be able to handle it safely, just not to the point that you'll be able to reverse the damage."

"What were you on when you designed this book?" Mitzi wondered. "That's just screwed up."

"I agree," Herinko commented. "As she said, it's really twisted."

"Security protocol," Clarence admitted, suddenly looking sheepish. "Which means that you need..."

"Me!"

Looking around to the doorway, everyone present saw Dorlinda walk into the room, a broadsword in a sheath at his waist and a weapon that resembled a G-Force Blaster in his belt.

"Let's do this," he said, rubbing his hands together. "No time to waste and all that."

"Actually, send me back now!" Dominic interrupted. "I can round up the troops, we can meet you in the Holimar Square."

"And can someone get a message to the Altaria PokéMorphs?" Luke asked. "Direct them to meet us there?"

"I can send one telepathically," Nikitca offered. "It's no trouble."

"Good job, guys," Katie quickly said, looking over at Clarence. "If that's all, then I just want you all to know that I love you all and hope you have the best of luck in the battle. I'll try to join you as quickly as possible. I won't die if you promise the same."

Turning to move away towards Clarence, she heard movement behind her, closing in on where she stood. The next thing she knew, Duo stepped in front of her, completely taking her by surprise as he kissed her. She could hear someone tutting in the group, someone that she guessed was probably Danni.

As he broke away, he winked at her, a weak grin on his face.

"Don't think that you were getting away without that," he said, still holding her hand. "Okay, go on. Do us all proud!"

Stepping past him, she could feel the black ranger's eyes on her as she moved away towards the Conduit. As he reached out and touched her on the face, she found that she was already missing Duo, something that was thrown from her thoughts as she felt the familiar experience of teleportation.

"Is she out of her mind?" Danni asked, the sarcasm extremely noticeable in her voice as she watched Duo look at the space where she had been, his face forlorn.

* * *

The place that Katie found herself in wasn't really like anything that she had ever had the chance to experience much before. At least, that was her first impression, as she took it in, she realised that it largely resembled Ortari's Time Hole, from the grey stone walls all around her to the plinth in the middle. And, atop the plinth, was the very familiar shape of the Genesis Book.

"Aha!"

Hearing the voice from behind her, she quickly realised that it must have come from the guardian that Clarence had said she would have to face. Turning, she realised that it was Dennis, something that she wouldn't have expected.

"But, makes sense at least," she muttered, seeing the mutant man that they had thought of as the leader of the Coppinger climb down from Ortari's throne, cracking his knuckles as he moved towards her.

"Wondered how long it would be before someone came here," he remarked, leering at her. "And, it's you. How surprising."

"I think you can stuff your surprise," she replied, taking up a fighting stance. "Either that, or you can give me the Genesis Book."

"That's what you came for," Dennis remarked, glancing over at the item in question. "Do you really expect me to give it to you?"

"Honestly, I didn't," the red ranger admitted. "At the very least, I was expecting a fight."

"What kind of host would I be if I didn't oblige you?" the Coppinger replied, bringing his hand up and hurling a Dragon Pulse attack at her, Katie immediately leaping out of the way. Where she had previously been stood, a huge burn marked the ground, the black scarring the otherwise grey background.

"Let's get this on then," she said, bringing up her morpher. "Genesis Overload!"

* * *

"Holy crap, I wish I was elsewhere right now," Chip said, as the group of rangers and Dorlinda appeared in the Holimar Square, the middle point of the capital city of the Verger region. "This isn't going to be easy, huh?"

"Life isn't in general," Luke pointed out, before glancing around to see Dominic and a squad of about two hundred SDI operatives, all wearing military uniforms and carrying very large laser rifles come on over towards them. "Is that all?"

"Apparently so," Dominic answered. "This is the entire attack force that SDI currently has. We're not as strong as we were."

"Damn," Danni said, rolling her eyes. "Where are the rest of..."

"PokéMorphs approaching," Zhirko announced, somewhere from the back of the group. Just as he had said, the beings in question started to appear over the horizon, moving gracefully towards the group.

"You got the message then?" Paige asked, glancing at them with surprise. She hadn't seen anything like them before, running her eyes over them before trying to not to be so conspicuous in doing so, realising that it was rude.

"We did," Vultori confirmed. "What's our plan of action."

"Destroy as many as possible," Scott said, folding his arms. "That has always been our plan, it's not changing now."

"Do we have a plan B?" Alzor wondered. "Or, is our entire battle strategy consisting of fighting until we die. Because..."

For the first time ever, Luke saw the PokéMorph smile, the action surprising him. He hadn't expected him to be able to do something like that.

"... Good plan!"

That was when the group heard a battle cry, an eerie howl echoing over the horizon. Those of them who had heard the sound of a Houndoom before immediately recognised it, a shiver running down their collective spines.

"Guess that they're on the way," Xavier said, looking around at the rest of the rangers that he was in the group with. "I think it's game face time. Let's morph, guys."

"Go G-Force!" yelled Crane, Mitzi and Chip, immediately moving to activate their morphers, the mystical spirits of the Rapidash, the Roserade and the Manectric erupting from the devices to crash into them and create their armour.

"Psychic Source! Steel Force!" Scott shouted, the Metagross mimicking the actions of the previous three rangers to create his silver ranger suit.

"SDI!" both Danni and Andrew shouted, taking their Poké Ball morphers up to transform. "Time to battle!"

"Syodian Power! Ranger Form!" the seven Syodian Rangers all shouted, morphing into their costumes. Unlike before, when he had been possessed, Zhirko transformed into a silver suit in the same design as the others.

"Probably the final time," Duo commented, dryly. Bringing up his morpher, he looked around at the other Genesis Rangers. "Let's do this. Genesis Overload!"

As they finished transforming, the first traces of Dogbots began to appear over the horizon, each of them looking pumped up.

"Here they come!" Dominic yelled. "Get ready! Operatives! Fire!"

In response to his command, the SDI operatives brought up their laser rifles and started to fire repeatedly, taking down the first wave of Dogbots with relative ease.

"If only it's going to be this easy throughout," Dorlinda remarked, sagely. "They know where we are now, they're going to converge upon us. In five minutes, there won't be room to swing a Meowth here."

"As long as there's room to swing a sword," Nikitca said, taking out her Syodian Sword. "That is all we need."

"Wonder what kind of Meowth there are on Syodia," Ryan commented, trying to raise spirits. "If they're bigger than the average sword, then that's quite worrying."

* * *

Throwing a punch towards Dennis, Katie felt him block the attack before grabbing her fist and kicking her in the side. With her defences momentarily down, he took the chance to flip her down to the ground, trying to kick her across the floor. Managing to roll out of the way, she kicked out at his standing leg from her prone position and managed to knock him off his feet. Jumping up, she brought out a Heat Blaster and fired twice at him, only for the Coppinger to spring to his feet and evade it with more ease than he should have been able to. Again, another Dragon Pulse came crashing towards her from his hands, she reacted quickly to bring both Heat Blasters up and fire into the vortex, managing to dispel it before it could hit her.

Grunting in anger at the way she had stopped his attack, Dennis came in hard on her, throwing a huge punch at her, one that she couldn't block. As she dropped to her knees, she realised she should probably have dodged it instead, only for the train of thought to be interrupted as the Coppinger kicked her in the face, knocking her onto her back.

"Come on!" Dennis roared, advancing on her as she managed to get back to her feet. "At least make this a challenge for me."

That was when she kicked out at him, her blow hitting him in the chest. Not letting up on that small victory, she followed on up with it, landing three punches to his upper body before he recovered and smashed her back with a Dragon Claw attack. Ignoring the pain, she ducked under his kick and retaliated with one of her own, sending him staggering back across the makeshift arena.

"Challenging enough for you?" she demanded, trying to pause the fight long enough to recover. "Or..."

Ignoring her completely, Dennis opened his mouth and launched a Hyper Beam attack at her...

* * *

Dorlinda hadn't been joking.

Barely four minutes after he had made his prediction, the Coppinger army of Dog and Doombots had swarmed over the horizon, coming at the makeshift resistance forces with no intention of showing mercy.

At the head of the army was Forsythia, the Lady of Time moving along the battlefield with little concern for her own safety. She knew that there was very little chance that anyone could touch her, not while they were too busy trying to defend themselves against her Dogbots.

She could see that the SDI operatives had long since abandoned their rifles as weapons and were instead using batons to try and fend back the Dogbots. Rather than stay in one large group, they had been forced to split up. Mixed in with them were Danni, Andrew and Mitzi, the three rangers trying to destroy the robotic soldiers rather than repel them. The movement of their weapons was a sight to behold, something that was matched across the battlefield as Crane, Scott and Chip were doing the same. The red G-Force ranger somehow seemed to be handling himself much more at ease than the rest of them in combat, Forsythia noticed, realising that seemed to be the case. Earlier when she had encountered him, she had sensed there was something different about him, something that she couldn't quite place.

Pushing the thoughts away, she knew they weren't important, Forsythia turned her attention back to the battle. The Genesis Rangers, the ones that Dennis and Ortari had told her so much about as the main obstacle against the completion of her task, were all still fighting, a mountain of robotic parts rising up at their feet. Close by, the Altaria PokéMorphs and the Syodian Rangers were also fighting on at their maximum, all cheerfully hacking up Dogbots as fast as the robotic soldiers cut be put in front of them.

"You might be outnumbered," she remarked, sweeping another glance across the battlefield. "But, you're not going to make it easy for us. I respect that..."

* * *

The Hyper Beam hadn't been able to take her down. The shock waves on the other hand had done a good job of knocking her silly, the impacts stunning her more than she realised at first. At least she hadn't been subject to more attacks while down, she thought, relieved for the about the first time in her life that the user needed to recharge after a Hyper Beam. Grimacing in pain, Katie managed to pull herself up to her feet, barely blocking an attack from Dennis as he broke through the exhaustion and came at her. Pushing him back, she kicked him in the side of the stomach, forcing him down. Rather than be cowed, he hit her with a rising uppercut, hurling her away from him.

"How long can you keep this up?" he asked, watching her hit the ground. "You're making a huge mistake. I can keep fighting for as long as I want, just with this simple act."

Moving away from her, he strode over to the plinth where the Genesis Book lay, placing his hand against it. As he did so, a golden hue raced up across his skin, almost seeming to revitalise him.

"At first, I thought the mutation was a curse," he said, softly. "Now, I think otherwise, thanks to her. The mutation enables me to channel it, to increase my powers temporarily. Quite a boost I find."

"So, how does that work?" she muttered, softly. Just loud enough for him to hear her, he quickly obliged her with the information.

"That would be the Genesis energy," he replied, without thinking. "Acts as an accelerant, why would you want to know that?"

"I think the clue is in the one word that you shouldn't have said," she replied, making a move towards the plinth. "Because, you know what? My morpher is powered by the same energy. Which means..."

Bursting past him, he tried to grab her only to miss, Katie slammed her palm down onto the exposed top surface of the Genesis Book, immediately feeling the boost of energy race through her system.

"Man, that's awesome!" she exclaimed, flexing every muscle of her body, every sinew was on fire with the sensations of power. "Let's take this onto the next level!"

"It makes no difference," he said, smugly. "Unless you have something that's going to drastically tip the scales in your favour."

"If you insist then," Katie replied, shrugging. "Hunter Glider! Now!"

As the vehicle in question came swooping down, Katie leaped up into the air to secure herself in. Her morpher glowing with a red light, light that transformed into energy that washed over and across her, soon metamorphising into flames. Flames that quickly faded away, as the transformation began. The red energy at her morpher spreading out across her body, she momentarily transformed into a living rendition of a Charizard. Similar to the way that she did when morphing into her Zord form, it only lasted for a second before she returned back to ranger form. Only with some new armour visible, the Charizard's head remaining, her helmet within its mouth with the rest of the face surrounding it. The wings of the Hunter Glider became part of her body, taking on the constitution of Charizard wings. Under her suit, her muscles grew larger, while a cream coloured oval formed on her stomach. Across her chest, a metallic silver band came across, while her gloves and boots hardened and grew claws at the end. The claws on her gloves extended out over her fingers as she landed and took a fighting stance.

"Let's do it then," she said, smirking under her helmet. "Make my day!"

* * *

"This could be better," Scott grumbled, bringing back his Metagross Steel Hammer for another attack. Swinging it up before bringing it down again, he crushed a Dogbot under the heavy weapon, immediately moving to kick another one away. Turning back to the crowd, he picked a target and brought his fist up, his entire forearm glowing with a bright silver energy. "But, Metagross Bullet Punch!"

Leaping forward, he hit out with a rapidly glowing punch at a Doombot, stunning it for a second before Chip jammed his Manectric Thunder Lance into the back of its head and took it down with an electric attack.

"At least we're not getting completely beaten out of sight," the yellow G-Force ranger commented, shrugging his shoulders, before taking another two down with another sweep of the Thunder Lance.

"We're not winning either, Sir," one of the SDI operatives offered, fresh from knocking another Dogbot down with his baton. "It could be a whole lot better."

* * *

Across the battlefield, Alzor brought up his sword and hacked the arms away from one of the Doombots around him, freeing himself from its grip. Kicking out at the armless robot, he achieved nothing but a dull pain in his foot. Somehow, he could have sworn that the thing in front of him had a smirk on its face as it began to prepare an immolating fire attack...

... Only for Dorlinda to appear from seemingly out of nowhere and finish it off with his sword, a relieved expression on his face.

"Everyone gets one," he warned. "You're welcome, by the way!"

"Thanks," Alzor replied, looking around for a sight of his family. "Maybe I can do the same for you, if you're about to die."

"I wouldn't recommend it," Dorlinda quickly said, vanishing out of sight.

* * *

Walking across the Holimar Square, Forsythia sensed motion behind her, quickly moving to evade the sword thrust that almost impaled her. Turning on the spot, she threw out a fist and managed to land a glancing blow on her attacker, Dorlinda staggering back in pain.

"Well well well," she said, looking him up and down. "Long time no see. How've you been?"

Rather than reply, Dorlinda instead went for the laser pistol at his belt, dragging it up to fire twice at her. His aim was off, the first shot sailing wide while the second hit her in the shoulder.

Glancing down at it, the Lady of Time felt the pain but also realised that it wasn't intense enough to dominate her.

"That wasn't very nice," she said, dryly. "Come on! Is that really warranted?"

"You deserve it," Dorlinda growled. "Do you know how much grief I felt when..."

"Don't take it personally," Forsythia replied, still smiling at him. "There's really no need for it."

"There's plenty of need for it!" he shouted, bringing the blaster pistol up again, this time intent on destroying her.

His shot would have hit her in the face had she not jumped, the shot catching her in the thigh. As she landed, less than gracefully dropping to one knee, a look of pure anger flashed onto her face.

"You're going to regret that!" she snarled, looking down at the hole in her leg where he had shot her, golden energy starting to seep out of the wound. "With interest!"

It had been slow at first, but rapidly increase as she straightened up and hurled her arms out to the sky, the Genesis energy that had apparently replaced her blood starting to glow brightly, the hue moving up to cover her entire body. Dorlinda could only watch with horror as the last trace of her features vanished and she began to mutate into something unrecognisable.

That something only became completely visible as the light faded, before that, all Dorlinda knew was that she had grown an extra two feet in height. Her skin had gone to a golden colour with white flecks, her previously human face had been replaced with that which resembled an Arceus. Across her arms, there were a series of five sharp spikes, while she wore a pendent resembling the wheel on an Arceus' back. Beneath her skin, the outline of her larger than previous muscles could be seen, while her feet had become tipped with golden claws.

"Scary," Dorlinda remarked, dryly. "You're really not that intimidating."

She responded by hurling out a hand and knocking him away, throwing him a clear thirty feet through the air from a standing position. Close to her, one of the SDI operatives brought up his laser rifle and tried to shoot her, only for his barrage of shots to bounce off her skin. Turning her attention to him, Forsythia threw out a fist and crushed him underneath her knuckles, almost grinding him into the ground.

"Uh oh!" Dominic shouted, not wanting to go in and try to fight her himself. "We're boned!"

"Anyone got any ideas?" Chip wondered, looking around. "Think we're going to need something special out of the bag."

"This is probably our best chance!" Nikitca announced, quickly. "Psycho Booster Battlizer!"

Hurling herself up into the air, Nikitca began to glow with a bright golden light, originating from the golden orb in her stomach. Huge red spikes began to erupt from her ranger suit, mutating together to form a thick armour not dissimilar to that which she wore while in her Defense Form. From that bedrock base, smaller spikes poked up out of the armour, especially across her knuckles. Her Deoxys shaped helmet took on a more triangular shape, while the sword at her waist disappeared to be replaced by a large blaster rifle.

"Go on!" Xavier shouted, watching the things happen in front of them. "Take her out!"  
Not hesitating, Nikitca shot up into the air, already giving out her shouted command.

"Syodian Asteroid Smash!"

It took all of a few seconds for her to start to arrow back down to earth, her body momentarily shifting away into the image of a huge asteroid, one steaming towards the ground with all the grace of a falling piano...

... Only for Forsythia to hold up a hand and catch her, although everyone watching got the impression that it wasn't an easy thing for her to pull off. Letting out a slight trill of laughter, Forsythia began to unleash several streams of electricity away through her hands, the blasts hurling Nikitca away from her and back through the sky. Hurtling down to the ground, she landed on a bench in the middle of the Holimar Square, crushing it completely under her weight at the same time as her Battlizer vanished from view.

"Woah!" Duo yelled, shocked by the sight. He hadn't, in fact, none of them had expected that to happen. It took him all of a second to bring up his Shadow Sabre and make a move towards Forsythia, his intention being to cut her down.

He never got close to landing the blow, Forsythia just being too quick for him. Her fist came up, backed by the same electricity that she had used against Nikitca and struck him in the back, sending him to the ground.

Even as the black ranger began to sink to his knees, he was aware that Crane was already running on over. In the next moment, he felt the feet of the red G-Force ranger on his shoulders, Crane having used him as a hurdle. The Horn Sabre came up, intent on being used to try and remove Forsythia's head from her shoulders, only for the mutated Lady of Time to bring up a fist and knock him away from her.

"I'm starting to enjoy this," Forsythia laughed, watching Crane fly away across the battlefield, aware that Paige was already coming to try and challenge her.

* * *

Roaring in a mixture of anger and pride, Dennis went for her, trying his best to destroy her before she became too much of a problem.

On reflection, he found himself thinking, it's probably a bit late for that. Should have done it long ago...

He was interrupted by her kicking him in the stomach, her blow massively stronger than the last time she had kicked him. As the shock waves still reverberated through his body, he felt worried for the first time in the battle.

Again, she struck out, this time with a punch. Again, the impact was felt throughout his body, the pain starting to become too intense for him to deal.

"Hunter Beam!" Katie yelled, her visor starting to glow with latent energy. Usually, the beam was multicoloured, this time she couldn't help but be aware that it was a scarlet colour, the energy absolutely humming with pure power.

Feeling it hit him in the chest, Dennis let loose a bellow of agony and dropped to his knees, his lot almost done for. Dark coloured blood was starting to run down his scales, his breathing laboured.

"You picked the wrong side," she said, softly, before walking over to him, her claws extended out. "Just like Arbok."

"Screw you!" he growled, turning his face away from her. "I don't care!"

"Hunter Slash!" Katie screamed, bringing both sets of claws up, each individual one humming with the essence of power. She felt them rake through his skin, immediately felt the resulting blast of released energy wash against her as his mutant side exploded, leaving just a badly beaten human on his own in a place where he didn't belong.

"Some day, you will care," the red ranger said, already craning her head around to where the Genesis Book lay on the plinth. "If not today."

* * *

As Paige hit the ground in pain from her bout with Forsythia, the sky lit up above the battlefield, completely bathing the entire area in what could have passed for sunlight.

"Is it over?" Duo asked, groggily trying to work out whether the battle was over or not. "Those the celebration fireworks?"

"Not even close," Xavier said, immediately reacting to the sound of something hitting the ground near him. Glancing over, he realised that it was Dennis...

... Before a scarlet coloured beam of energy shot out from the rapidly diminishing light, punching through an entire row of Doombots to obliterate them in the space of a few seconds.

"Damn," Dominic muttered, rubbing a wound on his shoulder. "That's some power!"

At the moment that he finished speaking, the light faded and everyone present saw Katie hovering in the air above them, the Genesis Book under her arm.

Growling in anger, Forsythia raised her head to the sky and launched a blast of electricity towards her, the static burst racing through the air to hit the red ranger in the chest. That lone attack was enough to knock her out of the sky, the Battlizer exploding around her and disappearing as she hit the ground, immediately moving to roll and evade being too badly hurt by the fall.

"So, you showed up," Forsythia remarked, her focus heavily on the red ranger. "What difference does one more make?"

"Quite a bit!" Katie exclaimed, bringing the book up, scanning for any trace of where Dorlinda was. Spotting the Lord of Time in the distance...

"Dorlinda!"

... She hurled the book in his direction, nearly everyone on the battlefield watching and following its progress through the air as the Lord of Time went to grab it. In those seconds, time seemed to stand still, until he finally grabbed it up out of the sky and closed his fingers around the cover.

* * *

That lone action immediately drew the seething rage out of Forsythia as she watched him catch it. A feral scream echoing from her jaws, she began to move towards him, only one thought on her mind.

"Can't you just lay down and die!" she howled, shoving a Dogbot out of her way. "I'm trying to make the world a better place! You're battling against the improvement of..."

"It's not going to happen," Dorlinda answered, suddenly aware of how close she was to him. "This is closure!"

Trying to turn away, he made to open the book up...

... Which was when Forsythia rose up above him and rammed one of the spikes on her body through Dorlinda's chest, the spike penetrating all the way through his chest, the tip visible and covered in blood. As the Lord of Time began to choke and whimper in pain, his death sounds were cut off by her removing the spike and letting him fall to the ground.

"No!" Paige shouted, seeing the lifeless form of Dorlinda down in front of their new enemy, his face completely wracked with agony. "You..."

"Damn you," Xavier said, gritting his teeth. "He didn't deserve that..."

"Never get between a predator and her prey," Forsythia laughed. "Once, I loved him. It was a fatal mistake to assume that he further meant anything to me. In fact..."

Reaching down to him, she grabbed the dead Lord of Time up by the collar and directed a surge of Genesis energy into his body. Letting out a huge gasp of pain, Dorlinda's eyes opened up again for a split second, the Lord of Time immediately drawing a pained breath...

... Only for her to repeat the action of stabbing him through the chest, a second hole appearing next to the original one. Within seconds, he was dead again.

"... Just to emphasise my point!" Forsythia howled. "He truly means nothing to me!"

"You brought him back to life, just to kill him again?" Danni shouted, pausing for a moment to decapitate a Dogbot with her Lugia Lancer. "You heartless bitch!"

Still Forsythia laughed, ignoring the yellow SDI Ranger and all those around her. Reaching down, she made to pick up the Genesis Book...

Before collapsing to her knees in agony, the laughter replaced with screams of pain. As she clutched at her chest, trying to alleviate some of the pain through sheer force, she was vaguely aware that he had appeared.

"Once again, you have proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that pride comes before a fall," Clarence said, lightly applauding her actions. "You tried to prove a point, it's going to become your undoing."

"What... What did you do?" Forsythia howled, still trying to get back to her feet. Still, the pain in her system grew.

"I did nothing," he replied, calmly. "It was you who brought this pain on yourself. Remember the Rule of Three? The dictate that was passed down as you became the Children of Dialga? You broke the third rule. Never try to save one of your own kind from death. You may have success in doing so, but your own life shall become forfeit if you do."

"You bastard!" she cried, starting to bleed from the eyes. "You're going to regret this."

"Underneath all that, you are still what you are," Clarence continued. "Despite the power and the mutation, you are still a Lady of Time. You are still bound by the same rules, and they are going to be your undoing."

"No!" she roared, reaching out for the Genesis Book. "I will survive this! And then, nobody will be safe from me."  
"I thought so," the Conduit said, shaking his head with sadness. "I hoped that I would be wrong, that you would accept your death and stop the madness. But instead, I must act! Rangers!"

At his cry, the seven Genesis Rangers appeared next to him, his cry drawing them over from where they had been on the battlefield to his side.

"You and only you can end this!" Clarence said, his words forceful. "You must focus the full uninhibited power of your Genesis stones into her. Only that will be enough to destroy her completely."

"Are you sure?" Luke asked, sounding exhausted from his efforts in the battle. "Because..."

"YES! Don't question me!" the Conduit bellowed. "Just do it!"

Not even bothering to argue, the seven rangers looked at each other before holding their clenched fists out in front of them. As one, the power of the gems, much like when they had done the same to defeat the Cobra Rangers, began to wash over them. With their suits glowing from the effects of the summoning of the power, each of them looked over at the writing Forsythia, the mutated Lady of Time still slowly trying to reach for the Genesis Book.

"Let's do this!" Katie exclaimed. "Power Of Fire! Flareon!"

"Power Of Dark! Umbreon!"  
"Power Of Water! Vaporeon!"

"Power Of Grass! Leafeon!"

"Power Of Electric! Jolteon!"  
"Power Of Psychic! Espeon!"

"Power Of Ice! Glaceon!"

All at the same time, the seven beams of energy erupted out from their hands, striking Forsythia square in the stomach. For a moment, she seemed to absorb the power, not really harmed by it.

But only for a moment. Ten seconds later, her passiveness changed to even more pain, the beams of energy punching a hole square through her at which point she was thrown back in a heap, still screaming in pain for a few moments before becoming silent.

No sooner had she landed, her body started to turn to dust and trickle away onto the area that had become a battlefield. And, at roughly the same time, the Genesis Rangers suddenly felt so weak, they dropped to their knees, their ranger suits vanishing as they did so.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, the other combatants were barely aware that Forsythia had been taken out by the efforts of the seven. Still, the Dogbots seemed to keep on coming, unrelenting as only a machine could be.

Then a shout rang up, one of the PokéMorphs giving the call that the rangers were down and unable to defend themselves. The effort of unleashing all their power to defeat Forsythia had taken everything out of them, nobody able to get over and help them.

"Guys," Luke groaned, the former purple ranger desperately trying to move up to defend himself as the Dogbots began to surround them. "We've got to..."

"Can't," Paige whispered, her voice almost deathly silent. "Too weak..."

"Come on!" Katie exclaimed, managing to pull herself up. "We can't rest now. This isn't..."

She was cut off in the middle of her sentence by a strike from the closest Dogbot, the thing hitting her in the face to knock her back to the ground. Not content with that, it began to move towards her to finish the former red ranger off.

"We're doomed," Ryan complained, sounding in much the same way as the others. "Bye, guys, it's been nice..."

"Get them!"

As the lone shout rang out over the horizon, it was followed by more shouts and cries, the sound of battle moving towards the mass of Dogbots that were still battling the remaining rangers and their allies. Looking up, the former rangers all saw what had to be almost the entire population of Holimar City running onto the scene to take on the mechanical creations that had driven them from their homes. Nobody was unarmed, each person seemed to have a weapon of some sort, be it a metal pipe, a taser, a sword or a baseball bat.

Clarence had made an estimate earlier that there was about ten thousand Dogbots on the scene, Duo thought, remembering the statement. Earlier in the week, he had seen a quote revealing that the population of Holimar City was close to fifty thousand.

"This is nice," Nahir said, managing to get up. "It's nice to have this happen for a change. Rather than us doing the fighting."

"You know what it means, don't you?" Xavier asked, the former blue ranger watching what was going on around them, the native population starting to overcome the mechanical invaders through sheer force of numbers.

"What?" Duo wondered, also having managed to get up. "What does it mean?"

"This is over!" he said, managing a weak grin. "We won!"

* * *

_"Many don't share my view, come my end I like to think that I will stick to it. But, more than that, this is the story of the final battle of seven courageous youths. Seven youths who faced more danger in the last two years than virtually anyone ever will in their life. They have carried the burden of protection, something only a select few can identify with. But, that burden is nearly over. One way or another..."_

As he heard Dorlinda's words echoing in his mind, Clarence found himself watching the scenes from high above the former battlefield, surprisingly pensive at the outcome that had taken place below.

"Now, it's over," he said, quietly. "They can go back to a regular life. I won't say that they will never be troubled again by events like this because that is a lie. A Poké Ranger never retires. In over a decade, both Sunderland and Roronoa will be recalled to their past life as rangers to help out another team. A few years after that... Let's just say that it's going to be interesting."

Below him, the crowds were starting to disperse along with the victorious rangers. Even the Syodians were starting to take some of the applause from the people, as well as the remaining rangers from other teams. Crane. Mitzi. Chip. Scott. Danni. Andrew. All had taken part in their own way.

"I am truly sorry that you couldn't be here to finish your monologue, Dorlinda," Clarence said, sorrowfully clapping his hands. Somewhere down on the battlefield, the remains of the Lord of Time began to trickle away into dust. "You had a good life, I hope that your afterlife is just as enjoyable. It's going to be better than Ortari's. She faces eternal torment of the highest order... My granddaughter... That's not for me to decide. Some higher fate will judge her. The rest of these Coppingers are never going to be released from the SDI facility where they are all shortly going to be contained."

Pausing again, he found that the cheers below were moving up to even where he was, the celebrations palpable in the air. He could almost taste them.

"What of the rangers though?" the Conduit asked, easily spotting them in the crowds. He knew where to look, despite the loss of the morphing powers, their signature was still tainted with the Genesis readings. They would never lose the abilities that they had been granted to take on the challenges, how long ago it seemed to him that they had beaten his construct to win the right to take up the powers. "They will spend the next few days resting and recovering. Then, Xavier and Ryan will head out again to battle. This time, Ryan will win. Shattered, Xavier will return to Hoenn with Miss Cole to start a battle school for young trainers. Ryan is going to carry on with being a trainer for the time being. Crane finally will reveal to Paige what his big secret was. They will continue to remain in a relationship for the immediate future. Of Luke and Nahir, he will return to his company and eventually become CEO. After a few weeks of debate, Nahir will become a successful author on a range of subjects. They will be married in two years, have a child in six. What of the final two members of this exclusive sect of rangers? In less than four years, they will relocate to Blackthorn City where Duo replaces Clair as the gym leader. Upon winning his first battle, against his former leader, he will immediately propose to her at which she will accept. Both Bill and Lance managed to return to their normal lives, never taking the acclaim and the recognition for their part in the whole thing."

Drawing breath, he saw his reflection in a pool of water atop the roof, Clarence suddenly realising how tired he both looked and felt.

"Of their other allies in this tapestry, SDI continued to hold a shadow operation, not quite as powerful as it was but not completely gone. The Syodian Rangers returned to their own planet with a new tale of triumph. The PokéMorphs were granted aid to rebuild their homes because of the devastation that had been caused by the attack. And, a final note for the Dino Force Rangers... It's not my place to reveal what happened to them. That's a story for another day, another tale for another storyteller. Although their part in the whole thing would have elevated them to hero status, the other human rangers joining the fight hold their right to remain anonymous. They all go onto live long healthy lives."

Again, he saw his reflection in the water. Within the pool, he could see the faint outlines of Dorlinda, Ortari and Forsythia peering over his shoulder, three of his people who had reached the end of their existence in the last several hours.

"And what of me?" he asked, looking up at the sky. "What becomes of an old man like myself, I do not know. All that I can say is that a Conduit's work is never done, and the Genesis Book needs to be hidden again."

Those final words were all he spoke before fading out into thin air. Nobody had seen him arrive, nobody saw him leave the scene.

* * *

**Gen-esis Over-load.**

_One final Dogbot falls to the ground, before being trampled flat by the moving crowds._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Cities and towns of Verger appear, people celebrating in each area._

**Coming together to fight the evil**

_The Silver Gyarados appears, Lance and Bill jump up and down in glee._

**They will always save the day.**

_Sounds of applause ring out as the unmorphed rangers move through the crowds._

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Dominic moves into view, flanked by SDI soldiers._

**But then they lost their edge!**

_The PokéMorphs all start to try and melt away._

**Poké Rangers! No!**

_Katie manages a weak smile. Katie Myers. Red Genesis Ranger. Created by Blue Bongo._

**Gen-esis Over-load**

_Duo quickens his pace to move up alongside her, putting his arm around her. Duo Roronoa. Black Genesis Ranger. Created by JMB2NAMI._

**It's time to battle...**

_Xavier hurls a thumbs up at the crowd. Xavier Jackson. Blue Genesis Ranger. Created by Blazin' Saddles._

**Poke Rangers! Go!**

_Ryan rubs a bruise on his arm, before punching the air. Ryan Leopard. Green Genesis Ranger. Created by Hotrod198._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Nahir breathes a huge sigh of relief. Nahir Moon. Yellow Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

_Luke moves through the crowd with ease, celebrating with people. Luke Sunderland. Purple Genesis Ranger. Created by MakubeDaKiddX._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_Paige brings up the rear, looking exhausted. Paige Martinez. White Genesis Ranger. Created by Famousgirl01. _

**Genesis Overload!**

_Crane manages a grin, and gives up trying to shield his face. Crane Edwards. Created by Blue Bongo._

**Poké Rangers!**

_Mal and Tim try to get onto the scene, before being escorted back by a pair of SDI operatives._

**Genesis Overload!**

_The Syodian Rangers all get a round of applause. Nikitca, Garris, Elphock, Valteria, Cerina, Herinko and Zhirko. All created by Blue Bongo._

**Power of the Eevee!**

_The Coppingers shown behind bars, alone..._

**Fight! Fight! Fight! Win!**

_Camera pans up to show an aerial view of the region._

**Genesis Overload!**

Poké Rangers Genesis Overload created by Blue Bongo. Verger region created by Blue Bongo. All other rights reserved.

**Poké Rangers! Go!**

**

* * *

**

**Author's Notes.**

**That's it! It's a wrap, people. No more Genesis Rangers...**

**That said, they're not completely gone. Crane, Xavier, Katie and Nikitca will all be appearing in Blazin' Saddles Forever Red. The seven rangers will be taking part in a crossover with Bandstand in the immediate future. And, although they didn't use their Genesis morphing powers then, Luke and Duo did appear in Once A Ranger, which is chronologically after this. **

**And, also, they'll be back for a super secret crossover next season in a triple crossover with both Cosmo Force and Lost Zone. More on that later, unless you've been on the forum, then it might have been mentioned once or twice.**

**Thanks for the reviews. They are all appreciated.**

**Also, is that the final appearance of Dorlinda? He's dead, but does that have to be the end? There's nothing to say that he can't reappear further back in his own timeline. But, this was intended to be final. There's nothing to say that I won't change my mind, but...**

**Since it's the end of the season, there's no preview for the next episode. I have no idea when the season premier of Poké Rangers: Cosmo Force will be.**

**Thanks for reading.**

**Don't forget to review, for the final time. This is that last chance... I, the author will be answering today.**

**

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**

Some Special Thanks.

**Blazin' Saddles.**

**Blaze, as it's been said before, I'm not going to mention the fact that you inspired us all to write our own Poké Ranger fics. And congrats on the soon to be fifth anniversary. Thanks for Xavier.**

**Cyborg-Lucario.**

**Lu... Or as I like to think of you, my Swedish audience, thanks for the reviews and for the ranger that you sent me for next season. Good on you.**

**PikaFlash.**

**Flash, you've come into the community in the last year and you've been a welcome addition to the tight-knit little group that we are. Thanks for both the reviews, they're usually insightful, and the ranger for next season.**

**Hotrod198.**

**Thanks for Ryan. Not much more to say. Ditto the comment about the ranger for next season.**

**MakubeDaKiddX**

**Welcome back. Usually a consistent reviewer who made a recent appearance, and eternal thanks for Luke.**

**Psyduck Ranger.**

**It's probably not going to get read, but on the off chance, thanks for the help writing Gifts Of The Future, I couldn't have done that without your help... Well, I could have, but it would have been pretty different and a lot of the details would be wrong.**


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